Girls Und Panzer - Mann Und Grosskampf
by Kwarduk
Summary: A new kind of tournament is coming up, a clashing of two different cultures of Sensha-do, new schools, new tanks and new tactics will be seen, for Ooarai and its commander Miho however, they will have to also take on volunteers, who may have different vehicles, different tactics, and even, be of different genders from what they are used to.
1. 新しいトーナメント - A New Tournament

**新しいトーナメント - A New Tournament**

It was the same routine for Miho…

Get up, fall out of bed, shut up the alarm, get dressed, have breakfast, grab your bag, lock the door, walk forward and then back to check you locked the door properly, find you where worrying over nothing as the door was stuck shut, walk past the bakery, look both ways and cross the roads, wave to everyone who greeted you, get to the school, walk up three flights of stairs, open the door to her personal office, sling the bag onto the nearby sofa and lay down in the desk chair and wait until the time for the first lesson of the day came and go down to the appropriate room.

But today, that routine would be broken.

It was rather strange when the first thing she found on the desk was a small pile of random documents, she found a note which had been handwritten placed on the top

"To Miho

There will be a new sensha-dō tournament format which will be coming up very soon, I've had Yuzu put some of the appropriate documents on your desk, have a look through them and see what you think of it all, if you need to talk, don't hesitate to contact the student council on the landline, the student council will also be pulling all the members of our team into our room at two o'clock, be sure to be present.

Momo Kawashima

P.S. I've had you excused from all lessons for today so you can process all of this documentation.

P.P.S. Anzu says hi."

"A new tournament format?" Miho asked herself confused and curious, she sat down in the leather chair and proceeded to spread all the documents out, they consisted of information on many different aspects, such as rules, locations, win and lose conditions, regulations, the lot, the first thing which stood out to her was the name of this entire thing.

'The 1st Eurasian Sensha-dō Grand Battle Tournament'

"Eurasian? You mean, both Asia and Europe are involved?" she asked herself, being rather confused by that name, she started to look at the paperwork in its entirety, scanning every single letter and sentence, formulating her thoughts.

After going through all the papers, she looked at the clock in her room, it was rather weird for a single girl like her to have a room like this office all to herself, probably a reward for supporting the entire school, well she did stop the school from being closed down… twice.

The minute hand had just hit eleven o'clock, meaning that maybe the student council was in a free period, she reached for the phone on her desk and punched 000 into the keypad, which set the phone to internal school connections, then punched in three more digits for the student council, she had the phone to her receiver as she waited for someone to pick up, at last there was the crackle on the other side.

"Hello?" the voice of Yuzu came on the other side, "oh hi Yuzu, its Miho, I had a few things to ask about this Grand battle tournament which you put on my desk" the commander asked, "oh yeah that, I'll pass you onto Momo, she's the one who's pushing this, hey Momo-chan!... its Miho she wants to ask you things about that new tournament!..." there was then the sound of the phone exchanging hands.

"Hi, its Momo, what did you want to ask me?" the student councils PR manager said, "yeah about this new tournament, I'm a bit confused about its name, why is it called the Eurasian tournament?" Miho questioned, "oh yeah that, the thing is, it's not going to just be Japanese teams which will be competing in this tournament" Momo explained, "what? Who else is competing?" Miho interrupted her, "European sensha-dō teams will also be competing in this whole thing, also the tournament will be abiding by European sensha-dō rules, don't worry their mostly the same to our rules, just a few differences here and there", Momo then explained that point, "never knew sensha-dō had been in Europe as well" Miho then muttered, "it's really taken off over there in the past year, they've already had two European tournaments like ours, but this tournament will be very different to the others we played in the past" Momo continued.

"In what way?" Miho responded, "just imagine you're in a constant battle, where it's not tank's you kill which win the battle, but having the most resources at the end of it" Momo added on, Miho gave a short whine in confusion.

Momo sighed and continued, "look, I'll explain it better in the session I set out at two o'clock, but what I can tell you right now, is this whole thing will be very taxing on the commander, so I advise you nominate a vice-commander", "I thought you were the vice-commander" Miho then asked remembering the position Momo was in in the past, "me? Hah, that was all because I didn't want the school to close down and I was a nervous breakdown throughout the entire thing, even so since you're the real commander, I'm giving you the choice for this tournament and I know that there are people in our team who can do a much better job than me, just say a name and I can call them up for you to do the honours" Momo shunned herself.

Miho hummed to herself as she thought about all the girls who were in their team, most of them were just average tank crews who just did what they were told and followed orders, but one of them stood out to Miho in particular.

"So? Made a decision?" Momo then took her out of thoughts, "oh yeah… Riko, she will make a good vice-commander, literally knows too much about military doctrine when it comes to tanks" Miho then decided, "ok I'll call her up, oh Miho" Momo then confirmed, "yeah Momo?" the commander responded, "are you sure you want Ooarai to participate?" the PR manager wanted the final say, "looking at it, and what we've all been through, I think we can do it" Miho gave her support, "ok thanks Miho, I'll meet you a two o'clock, see you there" Momo parted, "ok, see you" Miho returned and she put the phone down.

"Matsumoto Riko can you present yourself to the sensha-dō commanders room please, repeat, Matsumoto Riko can you present yourself to the sensha-dō commanders room" Miho heard Momo's voice over the schools PA system outside, she returned to looking at some team compositions, she did see that some of these teams where rather numerous in number, while others where smaller, but had more advanced tanks to compensate, "maybe we need a bit more support, I wonder what the stance is on volunteers" Miho asked herself.

She was then greeted to the sound of a knock on the door, "come in" Miho called out, she still had her eyes locked on the papers as she heard the door opening, then closing and some feet walking on the carpet, the feet stopped at the top of her peripheral vision, she then looked up at the person.

Riko Matsumoto, better known by her nickname Erwin was standing there right before her, wearing her usual attire of a German peaked cap which covered some of her blond hair, which was styled to have an ear like spike come out of each side, and a yellow 'Afrika Korp' styled jacket over her school uniform, she then gave her a military salute with her right arm, as she was the sort of person who liked to show deference to her tankery command, especially someone like Miho.

"You called me up here Miho?" she asked her commander, "oh yeah, you can pull a chair up Erwin" Miho eased her, Erwin pulled over a chair which was against one of the walls and sat on it, out of respect she took her cap off and held it against her stomach, "have you heard there's going to be a new tournament coming up very soon?" Miho questioned, Erwin scratched her hair in thought, "I did hear there was something different which would be happening" she replied, Miho then took one of the documents and handed it over, Erwin took the paper and her eyes scanned through the words printed on the sheet, "a grand battle tournament?" she then asked her commander, "yeah, the Japanese and European sensha-dō bodies are going to be hosting this grand battle tournament in a few days, looks like it's going to be big" Miho then said.

Erwin then placed the paper back down on the table and leaned back in the chair, "so what are you doing about it?" she asked Miho, "well I've been talking with the student council, and we decided we're gonna have a shot at it", the commander explained, Erwin smirked a bit, "probably so MEXT and that windbag Renta Tsuji has less of a reason to shut us down next time" she then mentioned, "yeah you know, if we possibly won this, then it would be undeniable that we can be victors not just in Japan, but on the world stage as well" Miho theorised.

"Well, what can I do for all of this" Erwin then brought them back on point, "oh yeah, you see, Momo is relegating herself more and more to keeping the entire team together, not in orders, just in administration of the entire team", Erwin leaned in a bit closer on her chair, Miho stopped for a second, "well just getting right to the point, I need a new vice-commander, and I thought you were the right candidate" she concluded, Erwin's eyes opened wide in surprise, "wait… you want to promote me?" she wanted clarification while in shock, Miho nodded, Erwin sank down in her seat "well I never saw myself as that much of a commander, sure keeping Saemonza and Oryou on point in the StuG with Caesar, but being your right hand man".

"I know you can do it Erwin, I mean, who is the one who corrects everyone on the aspects of tank history and usage and tells them to apologise to the Finnish?" Miho mentioned, Erwin slightly smirked at that comment, "and who is the one who can tell the life story of a world war general on the spot when asked?" Miho continued, "oh and also who is…"

"Okay, okay I get it Miho" Erwin interrupted her with a smile, "see, you know so much about military doctrine from the time which our tanks are from, and the fact your dressed for the part is a bonus, so, I just need your say on it, do you want to be my vice-commander?" Miho encouraged, Erwin then put her peaked cap back onto her head and looked at her commander, "ok, I'll do it" she confirmed.

2 o'clock came, and the student council room was filling up with all the members of the sensha-dō team, Anglerfish, Turtle, Duck, Hippo, Rabbit, Mallard, Anteater, Leopon, they were all here, Miho squeezed through the door to witness the packed room, with everyone talking among themselves, Miho noticed Yukari waving at her from a sofa, with a free space alongside Saori, Hana and Mako.

She walked over to and sat down between Yukari and Saori, "hey Miporin, how are you?" the latter greeted her, Miho just smiled, "I'm fine guys, just been reading into this new tournament" she expressed, "I wonder what this new tournament is" Hana chimed in, "ooh I'm so excited!" Yukari bubbled in excitement, "I don't know why everyone's making a big deal out of this anyways" Mako just murmured, still looking tired as always.

Soon the student council consisting of Momo, Anzu and Yuzu walked in stood at the forefront of the scene, everyone went quiet and looked at them, "hi there, thank you for making it up here in time, now I know you may be asking about what this is all about, but I'll let Miho bring up the opening points" Anzu announced, she then looked at Miho and this was her que to stand up on her feet, "okay thanks, firstly, this tournament which we will be fighting in a few days is going to be much different compared to the others we fought in the past" she started, she could see everyone was interested, "secondly, to help bonster the command for this tournament, I would like to congratulate Erwin on her promotion to vice-commander" she then beamed, everyone looked at Erwin and some of them clapped, with a smile, Erwin stood up and took a bow before sitting back down again, "so I'm guessing I don't have to do the lazy ones strategic homework anymore" Caesar grinned, "oh don't worry, I could slack off even more if you were bored for more work" Erwin then quipped, Oryou and Saemonza laughed while Caesar just rolled her eyes, "I'm joking, I'll be taking the strategy of our team from now on" Erwin took back, asserting her position as the full Hippo commander.

"Okay with those out of the way, Momo?" Anzu then coaxed, "so we will be taking part in the 1st Eurasian grand battle tournament" Momo started, "Eurasian? I didn't know Europe had a tankery scene" Noriko, the commander of Duck team then interrupted, "yes they do, the reason why you don't hear much of tankery outside of Japan is that it was not really that much of a mainstream sport" the PR manager then explained, "but from what I heard, it's taken off in the past year" Anzu then mention, while biting down on a dried potato, Miho swore she had some kind of unbreakable bond with that snack.

"Anyway, the Japan Sensha-Dō Federation (JSF) and the European Tankery Association (ETA) have set out the rules for this tournament, it's mostly the same but with a few differences, I will have it on the projector screen… once Yuzu has figured it out" Momo groaned while looking at her colleague, who was struggling with the white screen, Sodoko of the Mallard team huffed and walked over to Yuzu, pushing her aside and fixing the screen herself, "thanks" Yuzu said with a bit of embarrassment, "don't mention it" Sodoko just deadpanned, Nakajima of the Leopon team who was next to the light switches did the honours and switched them off, the room darkened as some words popped up on the screen.

"The rules as I said are almost the same, but can I draw attention to points 3-01 and 4-06, the differences are underlined" Momo showed everyone's eyes scanned down the words.

* * *

 **3-01 Participating vehicles' specifications**

The only vehicles allowed to participate are the following:

Vehicles whose design was in development before December 31, 1960 (some exceptions to this rule may be made on a case-by-case basis).

Vehicles whose construction was planned using only materials available before the aforementioned date

If a participant is from a country which did not have a native tank design before the aforementioned date, then they can use tanks designed before December 31, 1996, a team is limited to 4 of these vehicles and will be subjected to balancing regulations (1960's steel composition, weakened stabilizers etc.).

Certain modern technologies (technologies made after August 15, 1945) such as sub-calibre rounds, and ATGM's must be stripped off / replaced on the chosen vehicles, other technological abilities may be subject to a case-by-case basis.

The limit of a vehicle's weight is set to 300 tonnes.

Vehicles which meet these requirements must be confirmed to be constructed using materials that were available at that time.

However, in the event that there is difficulty supplying the appropriate parts, the League may determine the allowable extent of reproductions and modifications.

Changes to the type or number of participating vehicles on a team directly prior to the match are open to objection by opposition members.

Open-topped vehicles, including gun carriages, self-propelled anti-tank guns and indirect fire artillery may be considered tanks, but require approval on a case-by-case basis, this rule can be resolved by the participants if they modify the open-topped vehicle with an enclosement kit.

 **3-01 Participating vehicles' specifications cont.**

If a participating vehicle falls under the previously mentioned 1960-1996 rule, then the chosen vehicle must follow a set of manufacturer regulations:

The steel used in the production of the vehicle must be of a similar grade to 1960's grade steel (ceramic used in composite armour are not subjected to this rule).

The track horsepower of the vehicle must be reduced by 25% of its original engine power, Gas-turbine engines are banned and must be replaced with substitutes.

Explosive reactive armour is banned and must be removed or replaced with non-explosive substitutes.

The strength of gun stabilizers must be reduced by 50%

The strength of turret hydraulic systems must be reduced by 25%

Night-vision systems are banned and must be replaced with substitutes.

Fire control systems must also be reduced in their information gathering capabilities and all automatic systems must be disabled, meaning all target acquisition and computing must be done manually by the tank's gunner.

ATGM's are banned and must be removed from the vehicle.

 **4-06 On disabled vehicles**

A tank may no longer participate in the battle after it has been declared "inoperable".

A tank is declared "inoperable" if the crew compartment is considered to be "destroyed" or if the crew without assistance from any body outside the team cannot recover / repair the vehicle to become operable again.

Shells have the ability to knock out crew members, rendering them unconscious and unable to perform tasks, they can be revived by the crew by using limited revival salts, if this isn't done they will stay unconscious for a few hours, usually waking back up after a battle has concluded.

If a tank has less than two operational crew members, it's considered "inoperable".

The participants will wait for the orders of the Judges, and comply with them as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Any questions?" Anzu then asked after some time, she saw a hand immediately pop up from Anglerfish team, "yes Yukari?" she queried, "looking at those tank regulation dates, that suggests we will be facing early cold war vehicles, maybe even some MBT's, and even blueprint vehicles which never had an official prototype, do you think we can take that on with what we have?" she asked, "we have been talking about that point, and the solution to that we will share later" Momo answered her query.

"Okay, so shall we go into the concept of a grand battle?" Anzu bubbled sitting down in her prized office chair, Momo switched the screen onto another slide, which was full of words again, which Momo started to read out.

"This is a tournament which demands the greatest stamina, tactical and management skills from a team, not just in the battle but out of it as well, each team will have a home base and there will be depots all over the huge play area, in these will be crates full of 'industrial resource'..."

"What's this industrial resource?" Karina of Rabbit team whispered to Azusa who was next to her, "beats me" she replied quietly.

"... we have to assault these depots and take the resource back to our base and into our storage, any tanks which were knocked out in the process will be delivered back for repair, but some resource will be taken away, the team who has the most resource in their storage by the end of the tournament period is declared the winner."

A hand immediately popped up, "yes Piyotan?" Momo asked, "how long is this tournament going to last?" she questioned, "we'll be in the field for two full weeks" Momo replied, there was an audible groan from some of the students, "well I better get the laptop ready" Nekota said to herself.

Another hand then popped up, "yes Moyoko?" Momo said, "will we be encountering anything else other than the other schools? And which schools will be participating?" she inquired.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention, there will be a force of inter-war and early-war vehicles which will be all over the map, they may be moving around in packs or defending a depot, these which are known as 'Jinzōno' tanks, are controlled by AI and will attack any team which they see, oh and we aren't entirely sure on the list of schools which will be participating, but do expect the usual schools such as St. Gloriana and Kuromorimine to attend but they're will also be some European schools, I'll keep you all up to date on any changes which happen" Momo talked.

She then took her thoughts back to Yukari's question, "and going back to your question Yukari, since we are in a rather precarious situation with our tanks, I've been looking around and we will be having some volunteers from three European schools join us, but there is one slight issue."

"You all do know the concept of tankery in Japan being a feminine sport?", everyone looked closer at her, Momo took a breath "the thing is, in Europe the sport of tankery is more egalitarian, and the three teams we took in, are full male."

Everyone was a bit unnerved by this prospect, men didn't really have a place in tankery in their culture, so to have three male crews join them? that was quite the culture shock right there.

However, everyone was caught off guard by a loud scream from Saori, with a face full of glee, "OH MY GOOOOD! WERE GOING TO HAVE BOYS IN OUR GROUP! WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? WHAT ARE THEIR INTERESTS? ARE THEY SINGLE? ARE THEY…"

"Whoa whoa calm down Saori, all I know is that one crew is British, the other is Swedish and the final one is Italian" Momo quickly tried to calm her down.

"ITALIAN, SWEDISH, AND BRITISH!?" Saori gasped, then her eyes rolled into her head and slumped back in her chair, she had fainted from the sensational overload, with a smile on her face, "and I thought I fainted too easily" Mako said in shock, Hana just smiled from her comment with Miho not being able to speak from what just happened.

Miho turned back to the council and forced a smile to get back on track, "well… well we'll be glad to take them on as our own right guys?" she asked the rest of the teams, they thought about it for a second, and most of them returned smiles, "sure, it may be awkward where going to have boys on the team, but what the hell, it may be exciting for all of us" Noriko encouraged, "it may flounder the school rules completely, but for this tournament, I'm willing to make an exception" Sodoko added on, "we can totally do it guys!" Azusa then exulted.

"So, I'm guessing from what I'm hearing, Ooarai will be taking part in the tournament?" Momo seeked clarification.

YEAH!

Momo was taken aback a bit from the response she received, Anzu hopped out of her chair, "then it's settled, the tournament starts in a few days, so that will give us time to make plans, train up and get the vehicles ready and to the tournament's specifications, you are dismissed for now" she laid out, she then looked at Saori and grimace a bit to her unconscious body, "but can someone please take miss Takebe to the nurse?" she vacillated.

* * *

"Have the preparations been made?" Darjeeling's sweet voice went over the telephone, sat there in her armchair with tea in hand, Orange Pekoe, Assam and Rosehip looking on, "perfect, we will be leaving in a few days, so make sure those tanks are in tip-top shape… ok thanks, goodbye", she put the phone down and looked at her classmates, "well?" Pekoe asked, "everything is in shape, all the students are informed and the tanks are being prepared as we speak, St. Gloriana will be participating in the grand battle tournament" Darjeeling recounted, "well this will be interesting, seeing all these new schools" Assam added on, "yeah, and I'll be the one showing my speed and hit-and-run skills to them all _desu wa!"_ Rosehip boasted, both Pekoe and Assam giggled while Darjeeling pinched the bridge of her nose, "when will she ever learn" she grieved to herself.

* * *

"I'm telling you, we so have it in the bag!" Kay's loud cheery voice came over the table, Naomi and Alisa who were on the over side where listening to her words, Naomi with her arms crossed and Alisa had a few tournament documents in her hands which she was reading, "well which new schools will we be facing?" the former questioned, "eh, don't really know, but even so, they're probably just on the same level as us, but given that, we have the tank numbers to compensate for that" Kay answered, Naomi still wasn't convinced.

"Saunders has the tank numbers and we have the people to lead them, even if these European schools had sophisticated vehicles, we could always beat them with superior firepower doctrine, and just to spice it up, because of these relaxed rules, I've ordered a few more toys for us to play with" Kay then continued, this was enough encouragement for Naomi, "ehh what the hell, even if we didn't win, we still would make an impression wouldn't we" she chuckled.

Kay leaned forward in her seat, "also I want us to make a good impression to these new schools so no tricks, no sleaziness… and definitely no wiretapping!" those last words being directed at Alisa, who immediately panicked with wide open eyes, "look I told you I'm done with all that stuff!, you saw me rip that equipment out of my tank didn't you?" she blubbered, trying to defend herself, Kay just laughed, "haha I just love seeing you like that, but seriously, can you all please promise to me that you will be in line with the rules" she asked for, Naomi nodded and Alisa did a 'cross my heart and hope to die' on her chest, "good, I'll be calling an assembly later today, just be there and we'll get the rest of the school on board" she bubbled.

* * *

"Absolutely, Katyusha will be taking Pravda to this glorious tournament" the little girl of that name howled in her seat, with Nonna and Klara looking on with documents all over the table, "are you sure you want us to take part Katyusha?" Klara wanted confirmation, Katyusha just looked at her with a pout, "of course, we have the strongest tanks after all! with our prowess! Katyusha will show those Europeans that they are below me!" she boomed.

Klara just looked at Nonna, "vy deystvitel'no dumayete, chto my mozhem eto sdelat'?" she asked her colleague in her own language, Nonna just chuckled, "ya ne dumayu, chto u nas yest' bol'shoy vybor, teper' vy sobirayetes' podpisat' etot dokument ob uchastii?" she replied.

"STOP SPEAKING RUSSIAN!" Katyusha yelled at them both.

* * *

Marie groaned to the situation in front of her, here she was, on her side of the table where herself, Andou and Oshida, trying to convince the unifier of their school to take the commanding position again, that person was on the other side of the table, Asparagus.

"I told you, I've caused enough problems for this school, I've relegated myself to the Tankathlon scene, and that is where I choose to stay" Asparagus reaffirmed, Marie sighed, "but you where the person who unified us in the first place, we seriously need you back" she begged, Asparagus still had her arms crossed with a serious look under the visor of her hat, "why are you all of a sudden so desperate to have be back anyways?" she questioned, Marie looked at both her classmates and decided to say it out loud.

"I've signed BC Freedom up for the 1st Eurasian grand battle tournament" she admitted, Asparagus then seemed to loosen up a bit, "wait, that large scale tournament coming up soon?" she asked, Marie just nodded, "that's the reason why I want you to come back, I don't think I can do this all by my own, I need you to take the command for this tournament" she begged, "of course, because Oshida can't do it for you" Andou smirked, "hey, you can't lead anything if your life depended on it!" Oshida shot back, "oh really, then why am I the vice-commander?" Andou said back, "I'm a vice-commander too you idiot!" Oshida shouted, "stop it you two!" Marie snapped at them both, she wasn't in the mood to deal with their arguing at the moment.

Seeing that Marie wasn't being her usual ignorant, spoilt self, told Asparagus that they were being serious, sure she told herself not to do any more commanding, as her past actions had convinced her she had caused this entire mess between the BC and Freedom parts of the school, but she couldn't just stand by and watch the schools she united together get humiliated in a very prestigious tournament, she finally made her decision as she looked into Marie's eyes.

"If you really want me to return for the sake of BC-Freedom's honour, I will" she began to say, with Maire cracking a smile, but Asparagus then stuck her finger up, "BUT! under one condition" she then snapped, "and that being?" Andou asked, Asparagus had a slightly evil looking grin on her face, "any member or members of either the examination class or the escalator class who choose to start a fight between each other under my command will receive a MONTH'S worth of homework as punishment… oh and no cake may I add" she demanded, the other three girls gulped at this threat, their eyes wide in shock, "a month's worth of homework!?" Andou and Oshida thought to themselves, Marie looked at the plate of cake she had been eating, "and no cake!?" she panicked in her head, Oshida then turned to Andou and violently shook her hand, "err we have absolutely no problems between us don't we Andou?" she said in panic, "err yeah no problems whatsoever!" Andou responded also shaking back just as equally, Marie looked back at Asparagus, "well welcome back commander, I think that now makes me the co-commander" she depicted, Asparagus smiled, it looked like she still had that uniting prowess in her.

* * *

Anchovy had been hard at work this day, getting the new tanks she had ordered together from the earnings Anzio had made by hosting a few large parties, trying to get two week's worth of pasta and pizza rations together for the upcoming tournament, and calling an entire school together for an assembly, there she was, standing on the stage in front of the projector screen, which was being operated by her two close companions, Carpaccio and Pepperoni.

"Students of Anzio" her voice came over the entire crowd, "as you may know a great tournament between Japanese and European schools is due to commence soon, and we shall be participating in it as well."

"Now I know what you all are thinking, 'Duce? Will we get destroyed just like in the standard sensha-dō tournaments?', well, let me answer that question right here and now, thanks to all of your party hosting skills, and putting up with having the pasta rations cut time and time again, we have been able to gain the necessary funds, and with these funds we are able to bring some new tanks to the tournament."

Carpaccio hit a button and the picture of an exotic looking tank appeared on the screen, "our super-secret weapon, the M16/43, otherwise known as the Sahariano, imagine having the gun of an M13, but the speed of a Carro Veloce, we will outmanoeuvre our enemies with this vehicle and hit them hard where it hurts, with both of them as I was able to order two of them", everyone awed at this new vehicle, with some of the tank nuts in the crowd drooling at the mouth.

"BUT! There is more" Anchovy suddenly snapped, "we found that the armor and firepower of the Carro P26 to be rather insufficient, as our fight with Ooarai had proven, but your great Duce has thought of this fact and I have just the vehicle", and on que Carpaccio hit the button again, changing the image again to another tank.

"Our super-super-secret weapon! The Carro P43 bis!", everyone in the crowd gasped at this even more exotic tank, it even caught Pepperoni off guard as her eyes almost came out of her head, "with 100mm's of frontal armor and a 90mm gun in its turret, we will no longer be considered an underdog when it comes to armor and firepower, and I can tell you now, that this tournament will be different, we at Anzio have been struggling under all these restrictions, but now, with these more relaxed European rules, it will be our time to shine, and Anzio will be on top!"

Those words where met with an ecstatic response from the crowd, many of them standing up and cheering and howling in excitement, Anchovy stood there with a smug look on her face as her name was cheered, turning to and smiling at both Carpaccio and Pepperoni who in turn smiled back and cheered with the crowd.

DUCE! DUCE! DUCE!

* * *

"So, I can say we have come to an agreement on this tournament?" Kinuyo said to her subordinates around the table, all kneeling on pillows with a mixture of food such as sukiyaki and onigiri in front of them.

"Yeah, we spent quite a bit on getting those new Type 4 Chi-To's and that Type 5 Chi-Ri tank for the tournament anyways, with those European regulations, we have much more freedom when it comes to tanks" Hosomi mentioned, "so if Kinuyo-chan is getting the Chi-Ri, who is getting her tank, or the new tanks for that matter" the little Fukuda mentioned, "I'm getting the Chi-To!, and Hosomi could get the secret tank destroyer!, and…" Tamada then began to rapid-fire her ambitions, getting way ahead of herself.

"Woah, stop Tamada, firstly you're not setting the crews, I am, and second, I'm the overall commander her" Kinuyo put her foot down, stopping her vice-commander in her tracks, "so what are you going to do about the crews?" Hosomi said, "firstly, Tamada will stick with her Shinhoto Chi-Ha…"

"What!?" huffed Tamada as she felt cheated, "the reason being Tamada-chan is that I don't need you mindlessly charging into the enemy in an expensive tank, the Chi-To may have better armor but as the Europeans we will be facing say, you will still be turned into swiss cheese" Kinuyo explained, Tamada then tried to open her mouth to start an argument, "and if you try to argue with that position, I'll downgrade you to a Ha-Go" Kinuyo then cut her off, Tamada looked a bit torn but just took a deep breath, "fine" she calmly conceded, Kinuyo then turned to the others, "Hosomi you will get one of the Chi-To's and Fukuda will get my Chi-Ha" she laid out, "awesome!" Fukuda cheered to being promoted in the form of her tank, "oh, and can we not mention the tank destroyer please? I don't want any leaks" Kinuyo demanded, the others nodded their heads in response, "but what about that super-heav…" Fukuda then tried to say, but Kinuyo then reached over and covered her mouth, muffling her words, "and we shall not talk about that vehicle as well" Kinuyo silenced.

* * *

The sound of the kantele filled the air around the BT-42, the three main members of Jatkosota where laid on the tanks engine deck, Aki and Mikko where looking at the clouds while Mika was just lightly plucking the strings of her instrument.

"So, this tournament which is coming up, you think we have a shot in it?" Aki brought up, of course their small school had signed up for the grand battle tournament, "of course we do, if we could take down a whole bunch of Pershing's, what could stop us from doing well in this tournament" Mikko just bragged, Aki turned to Mika for advice who smiled back, "I do see your concern Aki, but sometimes we have to fight an uphill battle in order to succeed in our lives", she then started to play another verse on her kantele, "sometimes God will put a Goliath in your life, for you to find the David within you" she then quoted, Aki struggled to process that quote, but knowing Mika, she probably knew what she was talking about.

* * *

"So, mother, how did the sponsorship deal with the Boko museum go?" Alice asked over the phone to her mother Chiyo, her room wasn't completely vacant, as behind her sat in their seats where Azumi, Megumi and Rumi, the infamous 'Bermuda Trio'.

"It's going good my little Alice, the museum will be staying open thanks to our efforts, how is the preparations for the grand tournament going?" Chiyo chatted with her daughter, Alice looked over to Rumi who gave an OK symbol with her hand, "it's all proceeding as planned, soon All-Stars University will be ready to participate in the grand battle" she responded on the phone, Chiyo gave a slight sigh, "you do know that you will be up against some skilled European schools, and due to your skill level you will almost probably be limited in the number of tanks you can bring" she said, "yes mother, I am fully aware of the odd stacked against us" Alice replied, "but don't worry my little Alice, you and your companions, especially the Bermuda Trio are gifted with some of the greatest skill in sensha-dō, you will push for victory and destroy any of those Europeans who dare stand against you."

"You will show them the true way, the way of the Shimada style."

* * *

"Maho I have the files on…" Erika began to say as she came into the room, but she was cut off by Maho sticking an index finger at her, she saw that she had a phone stuck up against her ear.

"I'm guessing that's Erika dropping in on our conversation" Shiho said on the other side of the line, "yes mother she was gathering documentation on the upcoming tournament" Maho explained, Shiho gave a sound of approval, "how is she anyways?" she then asked, "I'm fine miss Nishizumi" Erika called out loud enough for her to hear, "good, anyways Maho how is the preparations going?" Shiho acknowledged and continued, "most of the vehicles are ready to be moved out, and we had an assembly just today explaining everything to the crews" she notified, "that's excellent" Shiho praised, but there was a bit of silence from Maho, "something on your mind Maho?" her mother noticed and asked, "it's just that I know Ooarai will be participating in this tournament, I still can't take my thoughts off Miho" she confessed, there was a heavy sigh from Shiho, "you do realize she has tarnished and dragged our style through the mud Maho, and that she defeated you in the 63rd tournament" she mentioned, "yes mother" Maho replied with a sombre tone, "but take this as an opportunity, the reason why I supported the match against All-Stars is because I wanted you to get the chance to defeat her" Shiho continued, "yes mother" Maho again replied, "and can you make one promise to me?" her mother asked for, "what is it?" Maho said slightly intrigued to what she meant, "there will be multiple European schools who will be participating, bringing their barbaric tactics and pointless commands to the battlefield, Miho will join their barbaric ways, but you Maho…"

"You will show them the true way, the way of the Nishizumi style."

* * *

Translations

Vy deystvitel'no dumayete, chto my mozhem eto sdelat'? = Do you really think we can do it? (Russian)

Ya ne dumayu, chto u nas yest' bol'shoy vybor, teper' vy sobirayetes' podpisat' etot dokument ob uchastii? = I don't think we have much of a choice, now are you going to sign that participation document? (Russian)

* * *

 **So this is the result of me looking at Girls Und Panzer in curiosity and, as a history and tank freak, got sucked into this fandom, now i know what you are all thinking…**

 **Uurgh another GuP story with boys in it, god thats soooo origional, so boring…**

 **And that is why I'm going to try to put my own spin on things, thats the main reason why I 'bent' the Sensha-do rules a bit is so you will get to see some more exotic tanks (a few have been mentioned in this part) and dreamed up an entire different type of tournament for even more immesion, but what I can tell you right now is it won't be your usual GuP story with boys.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoy this part enough to R &R (I'll take in any form of review, criticism is the fuel for change and progression, also it gives me motivation) and I hope to see you in the next part.**

 **Oh and I almost forgot, all of these characters have the voices in the English dub of this anime, all of them speak English, mainly just to avoid a few unnecessary language barriers.**


	2. トーナメントオフ - Off To The Tournament

**So welcome to the second part, one thing people do and what I'm starting to do with this story is respond to the reviews which where left on the previous chapter, so let us start.**

 **1: Nice start for a story, but if I might ask how are you going to put all those perspectives into play?**

 **Thanks!, And well that's a good one, I will be telling this story mostly from the point of view of Ooarai and their crews, but I may have a few special chapters where two different schools run into each other and fight, so you can see its really a true battle where every team is for themselves, oh and also maybe a few of** **'The Humble Yukari Akiyama's Tank Corner' chapters so our favourite tank nut and fluffy can describe the history behind the new exotic vehicles which will appear in this story** **.**

 **2:** **Will they the FV4005 Stage 2 when the boys come because that would be an epic tank for them to have**

 **Maybe :-)**

 **and another note, I noticed in the Anime with the chapter screens, the name of the episode is in both Japanese and English, I've decided to add that concept into the title of my chapters as well.**

 **with that all aside, here's the next chapter...**

* * *

 **トーナメントオフ - Off To The Tournament**

The alarm started to go off at its allotted time, but as always Miho was being stubborn with getting up, trying to ward off the beeping for as long as possible.

"Just a few more minutes Maho" she tiredly called, but the alarm had none of it, now screaming at her, Miho suddenly snapped awake and tried to reach for the device, but in the process, fell off her bed, and this time not onto the floor, but onto a full sleeping bag.

Yukari was rudely awakened by Miho's weight crushing down on her, she gasped as she saw her close companion in her PJ's sprawled out on top of her, Miho managed to roll off and her hand hit its mark on the top of the alarm, shutting it off.

Now Miho had a blush on her face as she looked at the now awake Yukari, "erm, sorry for that" she apologised, but Yukari just smiled, "well, that is one way to wake me up" she joked, Miho managed a smile again as she got up and turned the bedroom lights on.

With the dark banished, two of the three other sleeping bags started to wriggle from the searing light, "okay guys it's 2AM, time to get up" Miho called on them, both Hana and Saori slowly came out of their sleeping bags and rubbed their eyes, "ugh why do we have to get up at this time?" the latter whined as she pulled the sleeping bag off herself, "the train for the tournament leaves in an hour, with all our gear and tanks, it's going to be a long journey on the rails so it has to leave early" Miho then explained, in the process reaching into a drawer and pulling out their Sensha-dō uniforms.

"And why do we have to wear our tank uniforms?" Hana then asked as she was taking her PJ top off, "it's because we will be out in the field, and whenever that's the case, we have to wear these uniforms at all times" Miho mentioned, the four girls began getting out of their PJ's, the only thing covering their bodies was their lingerie as they put their uniforms on, it would normally be very awkward seeing each other in only underwear, but they had all bathed together completely naked now and again in the past, they were used to it.

Miho finished pulling the zipper on her boot up as she looked to her friends, Yukari had dressed herself quickly and then went into the kitchen to grab a quick snack, while Hana and Saori had just finished putting on their uniforms, "you two all good now?" Miho asked them both, "yeah, but what about Mako?" Hana asked, they turned to see the girl still in her sleeping bag, sleeping like the dead, knowing her condition it would be impossible to wake her up at this time, Saori just huffed as she then put her glasses on, "you two get everything ready, I'll dress her up" she chided.

Miho and Hana walked into the kitchen to see Yukari trying to stuff one of her large tank books into her backpack on the table, with an empty pack of dried potatoes nearby, next to the door which lead out of the apartment where all the suitcases containing any spare clothing and any personal belonging they may need, "are you sure you need to bring that with you?" Hana questioned, Yukari just smiled back as she was pulling the zipper around the track, "I do want to have all the knowledge of any tanks we may come across, as they say… knowledge…is!" she then struggled as the zipper was stuck on the large contents, she yanked hard and ended up breaking the metal zipper off.

"...Power?" Hana finished her sentence as Yukari stood there looking at the broken zipper, she turned to them, "pretty much" she confirmed, "well Hana do you need anything to snack on?" Miho then chatted, Hana just hummed, "no, I'm fine" she replied in kindness.

They were interrupted by a huffing, red faced Saori, dragging Mako's sleeping, now clothed body into the kitchen, she laid her down and wiped some sweat off her forehead, "there is no way I'm carrying her by myself to Ooarai train station" she cursed, "yeah Nishizumi-dono, how are we going to get her there?" Yukari asked, they then heard a slight cough from Hana, they turned to her and saw her holding a simple green stretcher, made of two long wooden rods with a piece of green cloth connecting them, long enough to carry someone on their backs, Miho smiled at this solution, "well that works" Yukari said dumbfounded.

The air was still as dark when they were able to get off the school ship and where now on the streets of Ooarai, Yukari had her backpack on her back and was dragging along two of the suitcases by both arms, Hana was pulling a suitcase along herself, Mako was laid out on the stretcher with a blanket covering her body and one of Miho's Boko bears stuffed in, at the back of the stretcher was Saori, and at the front was Miho, they did get a few weird looks from bystanders but they just smiled and waved them off as the continued to walk down the sidewalks.

"So, did you get any more information on the Europeans who will be joining us?" Yukari asked Miho suddenly, she jumped a bit from the suddenness, "well I didn't get too much, I'm guessing when we meet Momo she'll have more info, but I have heard the names they call themselves" she replied, "what's the names?" Saori said in eagerness, "well, the British team call themselves the Falcon team, the Swedish team call themselves the Elk team and the Italian team call themselves the Lupo team, not sure what that word means" Miho talked.

"Maybe you should as Caesar that once you meet her" Hana then suggested, "yeah, if she's in the state to even talk at this time" Yukari mentioned, they all smiled at that comment.

Both Miho and Saori felt Mako shuffle a bit in the stretcher, "wow she sleeps like the dead" Miho then said to Saori, "yeah, she's been like that ever since she was young" she responded, "did she ever try to find any treatment for her low blood pressure?" Hana then questioned, "well she never could, ever since what happened with her parents and the fact her grandmother was not able to help due to her own problems, Mako couldn't seem to get away from her condition, it seems like the only sort-of cure for it is exercise, but of course you can't exercise when your sleeping" Saori discussed, "but she always has you" Yukari then jumped in, Saori smiled to that comment, "yeah, ever since we met she saw me as her bestie, we had our moments, and our times, she really is a good person when you look past everything which is wrong with her body" Saori then said.

"Well let's keep walking, I would run faster than a Christie tank, but that would be difficult for you two medics" Yukari joked to Miho and Saori, who were confused, "what's a Christie?" Saori asked, "oh the Christie tank, or the T3E2, designed by J. Walter Christie, it had a unique suspension system which allowed for it to have very fast off-road speed and was able to pull off manoeuvres no other tank could at the time, the tank wasn't adopted by the US military, but the suspension system was used in the Soviet BT series and the British Cruiser series after the A13 Mark I" the tank nut then explained, Miho smiled from this, "nice bit of trivia Yukari" she chirped, Yukari blushed slightly to this, she always loved it when she got praise from her commander.

After walking almost across the entirety of Ooarai, they finally reached the train station, the long train itself was parked on the tracks, at the rear where flat-pack cars which had the tanks mounted on and strapped down with large tension straps, they were also covered in a teal coloured tarp, which wavered slightly in the wind, at the front where a few passenger cars, where everyone would be in, as they walked down the platform then happen to see Yuzu and Sodoko, both in their Sensha-dō uniforms near some crates, checking their contents.

"Extra Sensha-dō uniforms in all our school's sizes?" Sodoko asked, looking at the clipboard in her hands, with Yuzu kneeling down and having her head in the open space of the wooden box, "check" she called out, with Sodoko ticking that item off the list, "enough cleaning detergent to fill a swimming pool?" she continued, "check" Yuzu again called out, "and all the usual toiletries, shampoo, toothpaste and… tampons, urgh, hate saying that word in public" Sodoko grimaced to herself, "check, check and check" Yuzu finished, standing back up, "okay that's everything, now we just wait for everyone to turn up" the public morals committee president finished.

Just then Yuzu then noticed Anglerfish team walk up to them, "oh, I glad to see you made it on time" she then smiled to Miho, "okay hold up, just need to check you off the list first" Sodoko then interrupted, fumbling with the clipboard, "so, Nishizumi Miho?" she then said, "here" Miho called, "Isuzu Hana?" Sodoko read off again, "here" Hana replied, "Takebe Saori?" Sodoko continued, "here" Saori said, "Akiyama Yukari?" Sodoko called again, "here" Yukari responded, "Reizei Mako?" Sodoko called, "erm" Miho and Saori both said as they showed the stretcher they were holding, Sodoko leaned and saw Mako's sleeping body under the blanket, she let out a heavy sigh as she ticked the final box, "here" she said to herself.

"Okay so Anglerfish is here, now where just waiting on Rabbit team" Sodoko finished off, "oh Miho, Momo-chan is further down the platform" Yuzu then mentioned, "thanks" Miho parted and the group continued walking down the train until they saw Momo, Anzu and Erwin talking to each other, "okay, you all get in the train and get yourself settled" Miho said to her friends, "okay we'll go do that, what about you?" Yukari asked, "just need to talk to the others" Miho explained.

Miho reached the group of three from earlier, "oh Nishizumi, glad you could make it" Anzu said cheerfully, "I see you all are still managing to stay awake" Miho then joked, Erwin let out a yawn, "yeah, Caesar, Saemonza and Oryou fell asleep as soon as they got in the train car" she described, "oh also Miho, I've finally got a full list of the schools who will be participating, both Japanese and European, I was also able to talk to the commander of Falcon team a few hours ago" Momo then interrupted.

"Oh really? What did you ask him?" Miho urged to know, "well firstly, his name is Tom Bolton and he's from the city of Coventry, he joined the Bovington Tankery Sandhurst school where he met his crew, listening to him, he does seem to be a polite person" Momo began to tell.

"Wait, do these European schools have their own school ships?" Miho then interrupted, "of course they do, Bovington's school ship is based on a King George V battleship" Anzu explained, "wow, well anything else?" Miho went back to Momo, "well the team consists of a crew of 5 and they say they vehicle they use definitely a British experimental tank destroyer from the 1950's, but when I asked him what it was, he simply replied that it would be best kept a surprise" she told.

"Well that's a bummer" Erwin sighed, "just means we'll have to wait and see, I'm a girl who likes a few surprises" Anzu just said cheerfully, "as long as it isn't a surprise shot from a T-34-85 driven by Nonna" Erwin then quipped, going back to their match with Pravda during the last tournament, the other two laughed in response as Anzu rolled her eyes, "yeah yeah" she scoffed.

They then saw the Rabbit team finally arrive, the first years where all dressed and pulling their suitcases into the train via the doors, it was amusing as somewhere struggling to pull their crammed cases over the small steps, but they soon managed in the end, Sodoko then came up again, "that's everyone, the train will be leaving soon, so I say this is the time we all got on" she suggested, "sure, Miho, Erwin, I'll meet you in our booth once the train starts moving" Momo decided, the other two girls nodded.

After everyone was on-board, the train blow its horn to warn of its departure, soon with the pitch of the engines ramping up, the entire locomotive slowly lurched forward, and the train began its long journey to the tournament area.

The train car was rather modern in design, the small isle which was on the port side ran down the entire train car, and off to the right-hand side, where all the doors which lead to separate cabins, these had a table in the centre and bench seats to either side, above each seat was a fold-down bed held up by wire, all with the window making up the upper half of the starboard side wall of the carriage, one window for each room.

After moving into the next carriage, Miho went past one of the rooms and heard someone, "you know, what about train-volleyball? How cool would that be?" it was of course Noriko going on about their prized sport, "yeah sure, if we weren't crammed into a small cabin" Shinobu replied seemingly uninterested.

Miho left them to their conversation and continued down the aisle, until he saw someone else in front of her, "Yukari?" she asked, "oh I found you, I want to be at the meeting with you" the other said with eagerness, "erm, sure Yukari, it's just I'm not sure where it is" Miho replied with uncertainty, "I know where it is, just follow me" Yukari then smiled, surprising Miho.

They walked into a cabin and saw Momo and Erwin sitting in the seats, with some papers on the table, "good your here now, and I see you wanted to join us Akiyama" Momo then greeted them, "yeah, I just can't wait to hear about these schools" Yukari bubbled as she sat next to Erwin, Miho sat next to Momo.

"Ok so where do we start?" Miho began, Momo shuffled through the papers, "let's start with the schools we all know, so the schools from Japan which will be participating are:

Anzio Girls High School

All-Stars University Team

BC Freedom High School

Chi-Ha-Tan Academy

Jatkosota High School

Kuromorimine Girls Academy

Saunders University High School

St. Gloriana Girls College

Pravda Girls High School

Gregor High School and Count High School students will be participating in other school teams as volunteers.

Bonple High School, Blue Division High School, Maginot Girl's Academy and Viggen High School originally signed up, but pulled out."

"Well that's seems rather normal, what about the European schools?" Erwin then asked, Momo then pulled out another piece of paper.

"Well on that topic, let's start with this Czech school, Žatec-Pilsen Girls Academy, uses Czechoslovak tanks from a large time span, also some of these tanks are experimental blueprint prototypes."

"The next school is the Degman Tankery School, or Degman Škola Tankista, or DST, they're Croatian in origin."

"Which could mean they have MBT's, Croatia didn't have any native designs until after 1960" Yukari then mentioned, "any ideas on tanks they may use?" Erwin asked, "well, I expect mostly former Yugoslav vehicles, but they should be limited in their numbers because of the rules" Yukari told her thoughts.

"And that's where the next school comes in" Momo then interrupted, "Novi Tankery College, or NTC, they're a Serbian school who are teaming up with DST, they did it in the previous European tournaments, and that means they can have up to 8 of those 1960 to 1996 tanks, they must've found a loophole in the rules" she explained, Miho wined a bit.

"Oh come on Miho, we've taken out a Maus and a Karl-Gerät before, I think we can kill a few MBT's" Erwin cheered up.

Momo continued "Will deal with that when the time comes, next school, the Specialized Central Academy of Romania for the Logistics and Academics of Tankery..."

Everyone looked at Momo weirdly.

"...or in short, SCARLAT Tankery School, based on Legionary Romania, they use a bunch of open topped tank destroyers which had been enclosed and are masters in 'Războiul din umbra', whatever that means."

Momo reached near the end of the page, "and finally we have MTF, or, errr…" she then placed the paper on the table and pointed to a word, everyone leaned in to look at it.

 _Magyar Tank Főiskola_

"Yeah, I'm not even going to try and pronounce that, it translates to the Tank College of Hungary, they're a Hungarian school who are mostly comprised of light tanks, with a few mediums and an SPG."

"Okay so from the top, the full list of schools is as follows:

Anzio Girls High School

All-Stars University Team

BC Freedom High School

Chi-Ha-Tan Academy

DST and NTC compound team

Jatkosota High School

Kuromorimine Girls Academy

MTF Tankery School

Saunders University High School

SCARLAT Tankery School

St. Gloriana Girls College

And Žatec-Pilsen Girls Academy."

"So, twelve participants, one of us and eleven of them" Erwin concluded.

"The battlefield must be very large in order to accommodate that number of teams" Yukari said, "well, I do have this" Momo replied while folding out a large map, she laid it out on the table, with the others studying it closely.

The play area was huge, it had to be at least five-hundred square miles in size, the terrain was massively varied, swamps, marshes, valleys, grassy fields, hills, mountain passages, snow covered plateaus, villages, towns, ruined urban areas, rivers, even a desert in the south, it had it all, the map also showed where all the home bases and the supply depots where located, all of the areas present on the map had different characteristics which each team could adapt to and take advantage of, when they were told this tournament would require all of their strategic skills, they weren't being light on that point.

"Do we know where we'll be placed on the map?" Miho asked, but Momo just shrugged her shoulders, "I think we'll be shown that once we arrive."

Miho however was starting to feel tired again, she let out a yawn and decided it was time to go back to bed again, "well thanks for all the info, but I feel like I need to go back to bed" she uttered, "yeah, I think I'm going off as well" Yukari stood up, "okay then, go catch your sleep, it's going to be busy in the morning" Momo concluded, "thanks, well see you later" Miho parted, "see ya commander" Erwin wished, both Miho and Yukari walked back along the train back to their room.

When they came into the cabin they saw amusingly a struggling Saori trying to get Mako's body into one of the beds, with Hana looking on from the other fold-down beds, the suitcases where neatly placed up against the near-side wall, "hey, Yukari, Miporin, a bit of help?" Saori's red face pleaded, Miho and Yukari both reached up and provided the extra leverage in order to roll Mako into the bed, Saori caught her breath again as she stood up on the table to gain the height to tuck Mako in.

"I thought you said you didn't need any help" Hana joked, "yeah but I didn't think she would be that heavy" Saori just wined, "she didn't feel that heavy" Yukari admitted, "yeah, just because you have the muscle from throwing 75mm shells all day" the other girl continued, Miho just smiled.

"Well is she snuggled up now?" Hana asked, Saori put the finishing touches on the blanket and took away the Boko bear, putting it on the table, "there we go" she hummed at her handiwork, Miho had positioned herself in the corner of the bench seat next to the window, "so I'm guessing you're sleeping on the bench Saori?" she questioned, "yeah sure, but where will Yukari sleep?"

"I can sleep on the floor if you want" she then said, but Miho decided otherwise, "you can sleep on my seat, I'll be in this position anyways" she offered, this caused a blush to come across Yukari's face, "you, you will let me sleep with you?" she stammered, Miho nodded her head and smiled, "oh my god I'll be sleeping with Miss Nishizumi!" she bubbled to herself, while also clawing at her fluffy hair, she picked up a few blankets and gave one to Saori and Miho, the former laid herself on the seat and got comfy, Yukari turned off the lights in the cabin and gave the Boko bear to Miho as she also laid herself on the seat, with her fluffy head resting on Miho's thigh, Miho found this to be rather awkward but she just went with it.

With them all laying down in the dark room, the only form of light being the moon shining across the moving landscape, Hana had soon fallen asleep, "hey Miporin" Saori asked quietly form her position, "yes Saori?" she replied, "what do you think those boys will be like? Will they be nice" the other asked, "we did get a glimpse of what they're like, trust us, they'll fit right in with us" Yukari reassured, Saori now smiled, "I also hope they're gorgeous, maybe one of them will confess their love to me" she then squealed a bit in excitement, "okay don't get too excited, you don't want to scare them off don't we" Miho intoned, "don't worry Miporin, I won't scare them off, in fact, I bet they won't be able to leave me alone" Saori grinned, "even though you never dated someone in your life" Yukari quipped, Saori's sat up and stared daggers at Yukari with her a bit scared as a result.

"Okay can we both get some sleep please?" Miho defused them both, "yeah sure maybe we should get some sleep, I bet it's going to be busy in the morning" Yukari enforced, Saori's emotions changed again as she smiled joyfully, "okay then, goodnight" she parted and rolled over in her blanket, "goodnight Miss Nishizumi" Yukari then said up to Miho as she rested the back of her head on Miho's lap, "yeah, goodnight Yukari" Miho said still feeling a bit strange.

With Yukari slowly dosing off, Miho turned to look at the scene outside the window, trees, fences, and a few buildings whipped across her view, with the bluish glow of the moon lighting everything in a dull light, Miho snuggled the Boko bear into her chest and slowly and quietly sang.

"I'll fight, I'll fight, I'll fight for sure. Watch me beat up those jerks. I'll fight, it's the right thing to do, I'll do it with a high spirit, I'll do it resolutely."

"I'll fight, I'll fight, I'll fight for sure. Watch me beat up those jerks. I'll fight, it's the right thing to do, I'll do it with a high spirit, I'll do it resolutely."

And with the song of her best idol in her head, Miho slowly dozed off into the land of nod.


	3. ヨーロッパの風 - The Winds Of Europe

**Here's a new chapter from yours's truly, I will admit I maaay have rushed this one a bit, just so I could get moving with this story, now, the reviews.**

 **1: It's either the Conway the FV4005 Stage 2 or perhaps the Tortoise and maybe out of ridiculousness the fv215b 183**

 **W** **ell, one of your guesses is correct, read on and see :-)**

 **2: Nice chapter but there is one thing bugging me...** **How can they hope to kill a t80 with a panzer IV?**

 **That's a nice question which we will look at scientifically,**

 **The T-80 won't be appearing in this story, but the Yugoslav derivatives of the T-72 will, and it may look hopeless to kill one of these with a world war two era vehicle (since the T-72 has things like composite armor and all that jazz), but if you look closer, to the sides, you will notice that the side armor is only around 85mm thick, even with rubber side skirts (which being honest wont do anything against a AP round, they're only supposed to defeat HEAT shells), and looking at the characteristics of the Panzer IV H's L/48 gun, it can go right through the armor, and T-72's are renown for having their magazines explode in a spectacular fashion when hit.**

 **Which just goes to show, even if they are facing MBT's, Ooarai and their vehicles do still have a chance to take them out, they just need to be smart at it.**

 **Well with all of that out of the way, now, onto the next chapter, enjoy.**

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 **ヨーロッパの風 - The Winds Of Europe**

"Miporin… Miporin... MIPORIN!"

Miho suddenly snapped awake after having her nickname shouted right in her face, "huh, wha?" she stammered confused.

She found Saori, Yukari, Hana and Mako all awake and looking at her, "where here now" Saori kindly explained, Miho turned and looked out the window.

She saw that the train was now stopped at a small platform, the long concrete platform being trodden on by people, some being tournament organisers and others being Ooarai students were walking about in a busy way, Miho turned back to the others, "oh, well how long have we been here?" she asked, "we all woke up half an hour ago, the train arrived five minutes ago" Hana then explained, "oh really, what time is it?" Miho groaned a bit as she stretched her arms, Saori flipped her phone open and checked the time, "it's just hit 11 o'clock" she answered.

After packing everything up and tidying the room (and the slight panic as Miho almost forgot her Boko bear), Anglerfish closed the door and slowly walked along the carriage to the exit, "I'm probably guessing we'll have to drive our tanks to the base" Yukari mentioned as she was looking at the map, "yeah, I wonder how long it will take" Hana guessed, "depends on how fast I can drive" Mako avowed, "well however long it takes, it will be a nice drive in the open air won't it?" Miho echoed as she stepped through the carriage door and into the open air.

There was a flash of a figure right in front of them and before Miho knew it, a girl with brown hair, black glasses and a red armband on her left arm, all in Ooarai school uniform, was shoving a microphone in her face.

"And here she is ladies and gentleman! the commander of Ooarai! Miho Nishizumi! Miss Nishizumi, what's your thoughts on the upcoming tournament?" the small girl barked in eagerness, shoving the microphone even closer.

"Err, I, I" Miho struggled to say, as she was locked in shock, but Saori stepped up for her, "Hey! How about you show her some respect!" she snapped at the girl, "yeah, that action is rather impolite madam" Hana added on, the girl retreated slightly and felt embarrassed, "umm, sorry I didn't want to offend you" she then apologised, now Miho felt bad for her, "it's okay, we didn't mean that harshly" she tried to comfort.

"I see you two have met finally" Momo's voice came from the side, Anglerfish turned to see the student council standing there, "hi Momo, just wanted to ask who is this girl?" Miho said in curiosity, "ahh, that's Taiga Ou, she's a member of the Broadcasting club, and she's been going places I've heard" Momo explained on Taiga's behalf, the latter managed a smile again and held her hand out, "well sorry for that intro, but nice to meet you" she greeted, Miho smiled and shook her hand in response, "nice to meet you two, so what have you been doing?" She questioned.

"I've been busy recently, because of my skills in reporting, I got a placement in covering the tournament from some broadcasting companies who are partnered with the JSF and ETA" Taiga then went on to explain, "that's great! You sure you're not shy or anything?" Miho cheered and then asked in curiosity, "ehh, my training has made me used to it, I actually get a thrill knowing I'll be talking in front of hundreds of Japanese and European viewers, it's great, I've just been taking this time to practice my intros" Taiga bubbled.

"Start by not shoving the microphone in everyone's face, people don't like it when you intrude on their personal space" Momo advised flatly, "advise taken" Taiga said, pulling out a yellow notepad and scribbling it down, at that moment Erwin came up wearing her Afrika Korp jacket over her Sensha-dō uniform and saluted Miho.

"Commander, the tanks have been unloaded off the train and they're ready to move out" she reported, "great, so is everyone else ready to move out?" Miho asked the student council, "pretty much, we now know where we're going to be stationed, here's the map" Yuzu said, giving Miho the large map, now with one of the bases marked and a line drawn from their current position to the destination, "good, so we have to drive there in the tanks?" she queried, "well I wish we would be chauffeured there by league cars, but nope, we have to drive there ourselves in the tanks" Anzu jumped in, Miho looked down the platform and saw all the tanks lined up and ready to go, "okay, well we need to go Taiga, so we'll see you some other time" Miho started to part, "sure, I'll be secretly rooting for you guys, see you on the big screen!" Taiga replied in energy, she then turned and started to jog off, waving her hand at them with Miho waving back.

They came up to all the tanks which were parked lengthways on the platform, there was just a small ramp which went down to ground level and then onto a dirt road which led out of the station, Duck and Rabbit team had already gotten into and started their Type 89B and M3 Lee respectively, Leopon team where doing a few last checks on the engine and motors of their Porsche Tiger, The Chi-Nu, B1 bis, Hetzer and StuG III had their crews congregated around them, "okay guys were leaving soon, so get your tanks ready and running" Miho called out to them all.

With that, everyone grabbed their belongings and stuffed them into any hatches they could on their respected tank, Leopon team started their engine up, the engine growling into life and the motors whining with electric current, Nakajima got up and looked at the engine deck from the commander's cupola, "how's the girl doing?" she asked Hoshino who was checking the power and voltage with a meter, "powers good, voltage in the motors is good, I think we finally got these motors dialled in" she smiled, Suzuki then closed the engine deck with the large grates which once covered it, "who said you can't improve on German perfection" she joked knowing how the Porsche Tiger performed in reality.

In the Chi-Nu, the Anteater team where doing final bag checks, Nekota was sat there in her commander seat, watching Momoga and Piyotan in their places checking their bags, "are you sure you have everything?" Piyotan asked Momoga, she finally finished checking, "yep, that's everything I have" she called up, "what about you Nekota?" Piyotan then asked, "I have everything don't worry" she replied, "even the laptop's power brick?" Momoga called up, Nekota suddenly panicked as she sifted through her laptop bag, she then sighed in relief as she pulled out the black block with its wires attached, Momoga relaxed, "good, because I need that for my laptop as well" she said as she hit the tank's starter, starting the engine.

Moyoko grimaced as the starter on the B1 would not work, Sodoko sat on the turret seat arms crossed, waiting for the engine to start, "what's taking you so long?" she asked in a negative tone, "the damn starter isn't working" Moyoko fumed, after another failed try, she punched the panel in frustration, and with that, the starter then suddenly cranked and the engine roared into operation, Moyoko sat there with surprise on her face, but then shook it off, "we seriously need to get that starter fixed" she said, "noted" Sodoko replied flatly.

"Well come on let's get this thing started up" Momo ordered Yuzu who was still getting into her seat, Anzu lounged in her seat eating more sweet dried potatoes as she usually did, Yuzu shuffled a bit just to get herself comfortable, "I'm good now, ready Momo-chan?" she called behind her, "yes yes let's get started" Momo hurried, Yuzu hit the ignition and the Hetzer's Praga engine started flawlessly.

Erwin was making herself comfortable in her seat in the StuG III, Caesar, Saemonza and Oryou were also in the places, with their bags stuffed in any place in the crew compartment where they would fit, "so are you all ready?" Oryou called out to them, Saemonza did the honours, "yep, machina expergisci", and with that Latin phrase, Oryou hit the ignition and the StuG's Maybach engine came to life.

"Looks like everyone's all ready to go" Hana said as she looked out the open turret hatch of the Panzer IV H, "so which route are we taking?" Yukari asked Miho, she pulled the map open and looked at the directions, "well it's all on dirt roads, but it doesn't look too bad, we should be there in at least two hours if nothing goes wrong" she explained, "well let's get going" Saori said eagerly, Mako hit the tanks ignition and the tank started up, "ohh I love feeling that" Yukari said to herself in glee, Miho put her throat microphone on and went with procedure, "okay radio check in" she said over the waves.

"Mallard team standing by!"

"Rabbit team standing by!"

"Duck team standing by!"

"Leopon team standing by!"

"Anteater team standing by!"

"Hippo team standing by!"

"Turtle team standing by!"

"Okay, we will be moving out to our home base, follow Anglerfish and keep your speed, if you lose us, call it out and we'll pick you up again, understood?"

"YEAH!"

"Okay, Panzer Vor!"

And with that command, Mako put the tank into gear and the vehicle lurched forward, she steered the tank onto the access road and through the gate and into the open, Miho looked behind to see the other tanks where following as intended.

After some time of driving, most of the crews had their bodies sticking out of the various hatches and cupolas on their respected tanks, Miho was out of her cupola, looking at the map with the wind in her hair, Erwin and Caesar where stood out of the hatches of the StuG, the Rabbit team had their hatches open to let the air into the crew compartment, Noriko was stood looking out of the commander's cupola of the Type 89B, Sodoko was sat on the rear turret hatch of the B1, reading somewhere that's what the French commanders did back in the lulls of combat, Nakajima was on the commander's cupola while Suzuki was sat on the engine deck of the Porsche Tiger.

The long journey had taken a bit of a toll on the sanity of some of the crew, especially of the Rabbit team.

"Are we there yet?" Yuuki's bored voice came over the radio, "no" Saori replied, resting her head on her palm, also with a face full of boredom.

"Are we there yet?" Yukki said again, "no" Saori again replied.

"Are we…"

"SHUT UP!" Momo yelled over the waves, causing Saori to jump and grimace from her ears being ravaged, "jeez Momo calm down" Erwin advised, "calm down? You know it's hard to calm down when a bunch of first years are hogging up the radio traffic with pointless questions!" the PR manager huffed in response, "being honest I'm also bored, how much more distance commander?" Noriko then jumped in, Miho looked at the map, "not much further, literally one more junction and where there" she replied, as she said that the junction came up, Mako pulled on one of the sticks and the tank turned right, onto the road which led up to their compound.

Miho could now see the compound, a large chain link fence went around its large perimeter, the dirt road ending at concrete where the open gate was positioned.

"Okay guys it looks like where here" she called over the radio, Mako drove the tank through the gate and onto the smooth tarmac ground of the compound.

The compound was comprised of multiple structures, on the north side was the entrance, which the tanks where now driving through, on the east side was a long shelter with walls and a roof made of corrugated metal, with the side facing the inner compound being completely open, the supports of the roof broke it up into sections, enough spaces to store up to twelve vehicles.

The south side of the compound had a brick structure with three large garage style doors on the front, inside where lifts, toolboxes and spare parts storage, pretty much a fully functioning garage, next to the garage was two large storage tanks, the warning diamonds on them suggested they were storing fuel, in both petrol and diesel form for the tanks, and next to that was another storage building, with a single large garage door on it, this was intended to store all the industrial resources that Ooarai would plunder over the course of the tournament.

Finally, on the west side was the main building, complete with an Ooarai flag flying from a flagpole on the roof, it contained everything the team needed, offices for the commanders and subordinates, a strategy and briefing room for any operations, casual rooms for the crews to enjoy themselves, a mess hall, bathing area and showers, and bunk rooms where everyone would sleep.

Once the Panzer IV pulled into the central part of the compound, Miho noticed a car pulled up in front of the main building, a woman was stood in front of it, with a face and uniform which was immediately recognisable, "Ami Chōno?" she called out from the cupola, "ahh I see you all managed to get here without problems" Ami greeted in response, Miho went down to Saori, "tell everyone to park their tanks up" she ordered, Saori nodded as Miho got out of the cupola and jumped off the vehicle, the rest of Anglerfish proceeded to park the tank up.

She walked up to the JGSDF captain, "what are you doing here?" the commander asked, "I came here just to inspect your group and see you got here safely, but there is some extra information i need to tell you commander" Ami said, at that point, the rest of Anglerfish team came up from behind, "I also just want to point out a few more things, firstly, all meals which are provided for you are in the form of MRE's, easy to prepare and store, and you will have a full two week supply".

"Which means you're on a diet miss" Saori poked at Hana, knowing her gluttonous attitude, "secondly, there are spare parts for all your tanks, including the ones of the volunteers I've heard which will be joining you, with a skilled crew of mechanics, which I see you do have, you can easily repair all the vehicles after a battle" Ami continued.

"And finally, tonight there will be a commander's meeting, you Miho and up to four of your subordinates will be attending, you'll be meeting the commanders of not only the participating Japanese schools, but also of the European ones, members of the JSF and ETA and the media for both groups will also be attending, so please set a good example".

"I understand miss Chōno, we'll be sure to attend" Miho thanked, Ami smiled in response, and opened the door to her car, "good, I'll be glad to see what interactions will happen, a car will come to pick you up when the time comes, I'll see you there" she parted, she quickly got into the car and shut the door, "erm wait! What about…" Miho then tried to say, but Ami's car had already started and sped off through the gate and into the distance, Miho stood their surprised, "well, that's Ami for you, speedy and daring as always" Yukari joked, Miho managed a smile from that comment, most of the school had parked their tanks up, as that was happening, Leopon team had already claimed the garage and had parked their Porsche Tiger on one of the lifts in one of the openings, Hippo team then came up to them, "commander all the tanks are parked up" Erwin informed, "okay then, everyone can go along with their business of getting set up and settled in, we'll see what's here for us" Miho ordered.

There were three main offices which had a desk complete with PC, comfy office chair, drawers and a long sleeper sofa which could be folded into a bed, Miho, Erwin and the Student Council had claimed an office each.

After some time, with everyone in the teams set up, their personal belongings in place and familiarising themselves with their new home for the next two weeks, the Student Council had called a meeting between themselves, Miho, Erwin, Yukari and Nakajima.

Momo decided to start, "so, after all the planning, where here now, the tournament officially starts tomorrow, and we have a meeting we have to attend, when it comes to the attendees, I say we have Miho, myself, Erwin and Yukari attend, but I'm not sure on the last one".

"Maybe we should have one of the Europeans join us, they'll have knowledge of the European teams we'll be facing, they can point out any things we may miss" Erwin suggested, "that's a good idea Matsumoto, but can I ask what's that under your shoulder?" Anzu jumped in, noticing a orange folder under Erwin's right arm, "oh this? This has all of our past operations in it, you know, Maus trap, Macaroni zwei, Teasey tease, that's all in here" Erwin explained, "good, also Nakajima, if our tanks get damaged or knocked out after a battle, how fast can you get it operational again?" Momo turned her attention to the Leopon commander, "well, depends on its condition and how much of a beating it took, but if we work hard enough, we can get a tank repaired in a few hours with the tools and parts we have here, we also brought our overalls, just so our sensha-dō uniforms didn't get dirty when working on tanks" Nakajima theorised, Momo nodded, and turned back to the others, "I also just want to say now, I know I've been very demanding on you all in the past, I acknowledge that, but we must try our hardest to win this tournament as well, I have a nasty feeling that MEXT and that windbag Tsuji will be breathing down our necks the whole time, I hope that will be motivation for you all."

"But hey, we managed to pull through no matter what didn't we?" Anzu cheered, everyone smiled to that, "yeah, we beat Kuromorimine at the finals, we beat a university team, what's stopping us from winning here?" Erwin continued.

But their meeting was interrupted by Azusa who came through the door, "guys I think the European's are here, we've just seen some tanks on the horizon" she explained, Momo stood up, "okay then, meeting dismissed, let's go out and meet them" she ordered, "this will be fun" Anzu smiled to herself.

Just as they walked outside, they could already hear the roaring of two engines and the metallic squeals of the tracks to go with them, Duck team who were playing a game of volleyball outside had stopped their game to witness the spectacle, the rest of Anglerfish team came up behind Miho, "ohh there here! I can't wait to see these boys!" Saori squealed in excitement, "yeah, I can't wait to see the tanks they brought!" Yukari said in a similar tone of excitement, "okay you two keep yourselves composed, we don't want to creep them out now don't we?" Miho calmed them, the sound of the foreign tanks got louder and louder, and then, two of them finally appeared over the small crest of the access road.

The first tank was coloured in the base British army BS light stone colour, with the small shape of an falcon on the side of the turret, it seemed to be based on the chassis of a Centurion tank, but that's where the familiarity ended, the turret was large, tall and boxy, the rear overhanging the engine deck quite a bit, but the large eyecatcher was the gun, it was very big and very long, being the thickest at the rear where it went into the turret, it also had a large, cylindrical bore evacuator positioned in the middle, with a white stripe painted around it, this all suggested it was of a very high calibre, probably even larger than that of the gun on the KV-2 which Pravda bragged so much about.

The tank behind it was just as interesting, it was coloured in a forest green, the chassis was something they hadn't seen before, with six road wheels with an idler at the front and drive sprocket at the rear, all for each track, the frontal armour resembled a pike nose with how the armour was angled and built, the whole chassis was in itself rather flat, being a very low profile, the turret which had a Swedish flag on the side and the small design of an Elk was even more interesting, its weird flat sloped front, how the mantlet and rear was designed showed that it was an oscillating turret, where the whole turret compartment pivoted on the base with the gun as it moved up and down, speaking of the gun, it was of average length and had a beefy oval shaped muzzle break on the end, it's calibre seemed to match that of heavy tanks.

The tanks slowly pulled up in front of the group of waiting schoolgirls, Yukari who was weak at the knees in knowledge knew exactly what the British tank was.

The FV4005 Stage II

One of the hatches on the FV's turret opened, and a teenage boy stuck his body out.

"Well good afternoon there" he greeted the girls, his British accent ever so prevalent.


	4. ミホは男の子を満たす - Miho Meets The Boys

**Another chapter is here for your viewing pleasure, but you know the drill, the reviews come first.**

 **1:Nice chapter...** **now to the big question who will drop the basic vilan lines?**

 **thanks, and I do have a good European antagonist who will be spouting her lines to our characters ;-)**

 **2:** **YEAH! The doombarn is in the here RIP to everyone and the Swedish tank is the Kranvagn**

 **yep, the** **Doom barn** **is on the premises and here to give them a right kicking, as for the other tank, well read on :-)**

 **with that out of the way, enjoy.**

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 **ミホは男の子を満たす - Miho Meets The Boys**

The male teenager hauled himself out of the hatch and slid down the side of the tall turret and onto the deck of the tank, then made a small jump onto the tarmac floor, he walked around the front of the FV and presented himself to the girls.

Standing at around 5' 3", he was wearing what resembled a standard British tanker uniform, with a khaki jacket complete with chest pockets, small bandolier around his hips and black trousers which went down into some black, steel-toe boots, he also had a young, light face, rather average with brown eyes and brown hair, with a black beret covering it.

The girls behind Miho where in different forms of emotion, Momo was still as straight faced as she was normally, Anzu and Erwin looked on in interest, Yukari was trying to contain her excitement for the tanks that had just arrived and Saori was trying to hold her blush back.

The teen then stuck his hand out for Miho, "Tom Bolton, commander of Falcon team at your service" he greeted, with a Midlander accent in his voice, Miho was a bit stuck in shock but managed a nervous smile and shook his hand, "Miho Nishizumi, commander of the Ooarai Sensha-dō team, nice to meet you" she greeted in response, "so as you may already know, we're from Bovington Tankery Sandhurst, after you're PR manager gave us an offer and since our school wasn't participating in this tournament, we decided to transfer as your volunteers" Tom went on to explain, "and which one of you is that manager?"

"That would be me" Momo said behind them, "ah, Momo Kawashima if I'm not mistaken, we talked on the phone?" Tom addressed, "you would be correct, also I'm sure you're not operating that tank all by yourself" Momo then mentioned.

"Oh yeah about that…" Tom said and then turned to his tank, "come on out you lot, they won't bite" he called out.

At that point, the second hatch on top of the turret, the door on the rear and the driver's hatch on the chassis all opened up, and four more boys came out of their tank, they walked around and lined up side by side, they were all wearing similar uniforms to Tom, only with a few differences in accessories.

The first one stood at 5' 5" with a thin stature, he wore a pair of dark red gloves on his hands, he had a pair of hazel eyes and short brown hair, which was covered by a khaki and red British peaked cap, with an artillery insignia in the middle of the red band at the front, "Nelson Richards from Portsmouth, gunner of Falcon team at your service" he greeted with a slight posh, cockney accent.

The second one stood at 5' 1" with an average stature, he had what looked like some random papers and maps in his pockets, he had a pair of dark blue eyes and mid-length black hair, "Morgan Colwyn from Cardiff, driver of Falcon team at your service" he greeted, with a Welsh accent in his voice.

The third one stood at 5' 4" with a rather buffed stature, he had a blue and white saltire stitched into one of his collars and some mechanical tools in his bandolier, he had a pair of green eyes and short brown hair, "Ronald Lindsay from Aberdeenshire, loader of Falcon team at your service" he greeted, with a deeper Scottish accent.

The final one stood at 4' 10" with a smaller stature (more akin to a first year), he also had a blue and white saltire stitched into his collar, he had a pair of vivid blue eyes and had mid-length black hair, "Douglas Lindsay also from Aberdeenshire, assistant loader of Falcon team at your service" he greeted, with a lighter Scottish accent.

"Well it's so nice to meet you Falcon team" Miho was taken aback by the new faces, "so I bet we have to introduce ourselves" Anzu guessed, "that won't be necessary" Tom then noted, the girls looked confused, "the one with the monocle is Momo Kawashima, the short, twin ponytails is Anzu Kadotani, the one with the German cap is Riko Matsumoto AKA Erwin, the sleepy one is Mako Reizei, the tank nut is Yukari Akiyama, the… rather flustered one is Saori Takebe and the flower arranger is Hana Isuzu" he then picked out.

"Wha? How did you know" Miho panicked with a bit of a blush, "simple, it's something called the internet" Nelson joked, "aye, you do know you all where all over the tankery news outlets when you won that 63rd tournament and against that university team? It was rather easy finding all the info on you lot" Douglas explained.

"Det stora älglaget är här!" a Swedish voice then shouted to them, the girls turned to see three more teenagers standing there, just in front of the green tank they arrived in

All three of them stood three abreast, wearing forest green Swedish tanker uniforms, which where felt jackets and trousers along with a pair of rugged boots, the jackets covered a white shirt and had small, thin epaulettes on their shoulders, the two boys either side of the centre figure wore green cadet caps on their heads.

The one in front stood at 5' 4" with an average stature, he had a pair of green eyes and had short brown hair, the one to his right stood at 5' 3" also with an average stature, he had blue eyes and spiky medium blonde hair under his cap, and the boy on the left stood at 5' 6" with a built-up stature.

"You're the Swedish team I'm guessing?" Momo answered the boys, "you would be correct" the centre figure said.

"I'm Erik Bofors, the commander" he then introduced himself.

"Gustav Hägglunds, the driver, but I go by the nickname Knugen" the one with spiky blonde hair then said.

"Jörgen Landsverk, the gunner" the tall one then added on.

"And that lot is Elk team for you, you'll get use to their company" Tom clarified, "say, may I ask what that tank is? I don't recognize it" Erwin asked, pointing to the tank in question, with Yukari just wanting to jump in.

Erik turned to it, "oh that? That miss is the Kranvagn, a tank with was…" he began to say.

"...part of the EMIL project to develop a tank for the Swedish armed forces to counter the Soviet IS-3 tanks in case of an invasion" Yukari then cut him off, Erik looked at her shocked, "so they weren't kidding when they called you a tank nut, you just took the words out of my mouth" he exclaimed, "oh, sorry" Yukari consoled and looked rather timid, "don't be, that's one great mind you have" Erik smiled. Yukari perked up again and smiled in return.

"Should we talk more about all these new vehicles?" Anzu then suggested, Tom however looked distraught, "well I would gladly if those damn Italians came on time" he grimaced, "speaking of them, where the hell are they?" Momo then asked.

Just on que, a tank suddenly appeared at the gates and drove in quickly, it was painted yellow and was rather low-down in appearance, the turret was rounded with a cupola and hatch on the roof, a rangefinder port was present on each side of the turret just above the mantlet, which held a mid-sized gun with an X-shaped muzzle break on the end, the rear of the tank was lifted up slightly with twin, round exhaust ports on the back and a bunch of tools on the side, on the front a small Italian flag was painted on the front plate, also the symbol of twin wolf tails where on the side on the turret, along with some Italian writing.

"Speak of the devil" Tom joked as the Italian tank stopped just behind the Kranvagn, Tom at this point walked a bit closer to the girls, "now I may want to warn you that the commander of that tank may have been a womanizer in the past" he mentioned, "really?" Anzu questioned, "yep, but I did make it clear to him, no funny business between him and you all, but he is the rather laid back type may I add" Tom reassured, Miho then looked at Yukari, "you know what that tank is?" she questioned, "Wow, that's one of the Leopard I prototypes, If I remember correctly that's the I B version" she replied with glee.

At that point the hatch on top of the Italian tank opened and the teenage commander stuck out.

He was wearing a black leather Italian tanker jacket with solid red lapels, his trousers were also black and he had black, shin high boots, the commander himself stood at 5' 3" and had brown eyes and dark brown hair, which was covered by a black Italian tanker helmet which had black felt which hung down and ran around the sides and rear.

"Ciao my new companions! Alfonso Salvatore of Lupo team is here" he shouted from the cupola, with a southern Italian accent ever so present in his voice as he got his body fully out of the tank, "bloody hell Alfonso you took your time!" Tom scolded as the Italian stood on the roof of the turret, "why are you so angry, we were only…" Alfonso began to say, "...Taking the scenic route, I ain't falling for that excuse again, now get yourself and your crew over here to present" Tom barked, Alfonso huffed and proceeded to order his crew.

"I think you can now see why we consider the Lupo team to be the most interesting of our small group" Erik smiled, "I can see that" Erwin replied, she in particular had a bit of interest in the Italian commander, "but I tell you, they are one fast bunch when it comes to the battle" Knugen added on talking from experience.

The entirety of Lupo team was now lined up in front of them, Alfonso was on the far right with his subordinates to the left.

The first stood at 5' 4" with a slightly thin stature, his uniform was similar to Alfonso's, the main difference however was his jacket was a greenish-grey colour and was made of felt compared to the black and leather of the normal uniform, he also wore a model 1934 Italian peaked cap on his head, with a gold eagle on the front and some extra gold trimmings around the band, the boy himself had brown eyes and short auburn hair, "Alberico Badoglio, loader of Lupo team madam" he greeted.

The second stood at 5' 3" with a rather buffed stature, his uniform was also similar to Alfonso, the difference being he had a belt with a few pouches containing range finding equipment and an Italian bustina cap on his head, he had hazel eyes and short brown hair, "Hugo Giovanni, gunner of Lupo team madam" he introduced himself.

The final one stood at 5' dead with an average stature, the inclusion of a few tools on his belt and the square glasses on his face being the only differences in terms of uniform, he had green eyes and black, mid-length hair, "Floriano Cavallero, driver of Lupo team madam" he saluted with his hand.

Miho smiled at all the new male faces looking at her, "I'm guessing this is all of you now?" she asked, "yep that's all of us" Tom replied, "well I think I'll start off first, I'm Miho Nishizumi and I'm the commander of Ooarai's Sensha-dō team, that girl over there is Momo Kawashima, she is the PR manager of the Student council and will be the one keeping all of us in check, that girl is Anzu Kadotani, she is the leader of the Student council, next to her is Yuzu Koyama, the student council's paper pusher and this girl next to me is Riko Matsumoto, AKA Erwin who is my vice-commander" she listed everyone to the males, with the respected girls giving nods in greeting.

"I was wondering what the name of that glorious commanding girl was" Alfonso quipped with a smirk, his words directed at Erwin, with her pulling a surprised face and trying to hold back a blush, "did he just say that?" she thought to herself, Elk team sniggered slightly while Tom just face palmed to the cringe, Anzu and Yuzu couldn't help but smile, but Momo then coughed into a fist, "may I remind you Salvatore that flirting with the vice-commander in front of the leadership of the team isn't the most wise decision" she reprimanded, "oh, I do apologise" Alfonso backtracked, but with a slight grin still present on his face.

"Erm, okay with that out of the way, all the crews can go inside the building and get themselves settled" Miho then ordered, "what about the new tanks?" Yukari then asked, "well they can be parked up in the hanger by the drivers" Miho replied, "well we have some belongings we have to take out, may take a wee-little while" Ronald brought up, "okay, do that and take your belongings to the male bunks, I'll show you where they are" Momo interjected.

Miho, Yukari, Erwin, Anzu, Noriko and the three European commanders watched as the final vehicle, the FV was being reversed into place by Morgan, with Nelson guiding him backwards with voice and hand signals.

"Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, Stop!" Nelson exclaimed with swiping arms, Morgan hit the brakes and the FV came to a sharp halt in the hanger and the engine shut off, Morgan got out of the driver's hatch, slid down the front plate of the hull and walked over to Nelson, and they both started to walk to the main building, "thanks for that guys, you get yourselves comfy" Tom said to them both, "your welcome mate" Nelson replied, with his gentleman like persona showing.

Now they were standing in front of the FV, its large gun and turret towering over them, "ok the FV4005 Stage II, where do we start with this thing" Anzu said to herself, "well I'm going to leave it to the tank nut, she seemed to know more about this vehicle than I do" Tom stood himself aside for Yukari.

"Oh thanks Tom, well this vehicle, it was developed in the early 1950's in order to counter heavy Soviet armour like the IS-3 and the Lenin at the time, it was designed alongside the FV215 project which was based on the Conqueror chassis, while this was based on the Centurion chassis, where the FV215 didn't make it past the mock-up stage, the 4005 made it into two prototypes, the Stage I and the Stage II, the Stage I had the gun completely open to the elements, as it was loaded by a semi-automated magazine feed, however it was decided having the gun automated and unprotected wasn't worth the cost in crew safety, the Stage II ditched the mechanical system for the traditional two loaders in the large fully enclosed turret, the tank did well in its trials, but in 1957 the Malkara ATGM was slowly coming into fruition, which did the same job as the FV but without the hassle of such a huge vehicle, as a result, the FV4005 was declared obsolete and the project was abandoned, the vehicle was later moved to a museum where it resides to this day".

"So, what does it have going for it?" Erwin asked, Tom took over at this point, "well let's get the obvious out of the way, you all may have noticed the rather impressive gun on it, it's the 183 mm L4A1 tank gun" he explained, "183 mm?" Anzu said in a bit of shock, "that's a big-ass gun" Noriko said to herself, "bloody right it is" Tom replied to her with a smile, "if you want comparisons, the gun on Pravda's KV-2 is only 152 mm's" Yukari mentioned, "yep, and the shells it fires are two-piece 183 mm HESH rounds, each shell weighs around seventy kilograms and each round has an equivalent of sixteen kilograms of TNT, you can see why we need two loaders" Tom continued.

"What's so special about these HESH rounds?" Erwin questioned, "well may I start by saying that HESH stands for High Explosive Squash Head, it does exactly what it says on the tin, the shell hits the armour, squashes up against it and then detonates, the shockwave it creates in the armour causes a lot of spalling which in turn can wreak havoc on the insides of the tank, but then the shell itself can penetrate the amour if its weak enough, and need I say more if the shell explodes on the inside" Tom lectured, "the main issue is that's it's a pain in the backside to reload the bloody thing, even when Ronald and Douglas are warmed up, reloads take up to twenty five seconds, and also the turret armour isn't very good as well, it can really only stop machine gun fire and that about it" he then warned.

The girls all nodded, "okay thanks for the info you guys, now can we move on to the next vehicle?" Miho asked, they all moved over to the next vehicle.

"So this is the Kare… Krain… Kgra…" Anzu struggled to pronounce the Swedish word, "Kranvagn" Erik corrected her, "yeah, the Kranvagn, that's what I meant" she quickly snapped, "well I can start" Yukari suggested.

"This tank, otherwise known as the KRV was the third and final tank variation which resulted from the EMIL project, just like the FV4005 it was intended to take on the heavy Soviet tanks which would be used in case the Soviets invaded Sweden, two main companies developed the tank, Landsverk developed the hull and tracks while Bofors developed the turret and gun system, the tank had a flat, low profile hull with an American twelve cylinder V12 engine, it even had a pike nose which was inspired by the Soviet tanks, the gun was placed in an oscillating turret and had an autoloader mechanism, akin to the French AMX-13 tanks, Landsverk was able to produce two prototype chassis' for testing, but Bofors where never able to complete the turret due to problems with the proposed 150 mm smoothbore gun, with them resorting down to a proposed 120 mm rifled gun, soon Sweden was importing British Centurion tanks, which were designated the Strv 81, and soon after that the whole EMIL project was canned, one of the prototypes was used for suspension testing for the S-tank project, and it was later put into storage after all these tests where it resides now".

"Did you say autoloader?" Miho questioned, "yes she did, this vehicle has a twin drum, four round autoloader mechanism for the 120 mm gun, we usually have one drum, which is located behind my position loaded with HE ammunition, while the other which is behind Jörgen's position is loaded with APCR ammunition, we couldn't use the original APDS due to tournament rules on sub-calibre rounds, but the APCR drum is the one we use regularly use" Erik took to explain, "so it means you can fire four rounds in rapid succession?" Erwin asked, "exactly, we can fire all four shells within the space of twelve seconds, the issue is that once the drum is empty, Jörgen has to then load the drum back up one shell at a time, which can take up to thirty seconds if he's fast, but we also do have armour to protect ourselves, the turret is up to 180 mm thick, and the gun can depress very well, so this has good potential in hull-down tactics" Erik answered with his experience with the tank.

"Also, may I ask why is it called Kranvagn?" Anzu said in curiosity, "Kranvagn roughly translates to crane wagon in Swedish, it was done during its development to confuse any potential spies on the project, although you may hear it being called the 'trolley' as well, but that's just a miss-translation" Erik answered.

Now they were onto the final tank in the European's arsenal, the the Italian Leopard prototype, "well Yukari?" Miho asked the fluffy.

"Well, this tank was the product of a combined project between France and Germany in order to produce a 'Standardpanzer' which could equip both armies, in 1958 when the project was still going through its design phase, Italy joined the joint effort, which I'm guessing that's how you Italians got your hands on it, the first prototypes, I A and I B, which is the one here right now, were finished in 1960, with them going through testing, the second batch were finished in late 1961, these being II A and II B, in the end the II A version was picked as the winner of the entire project, and that would go on to become the Leopard I, although at that point, the joint program between Germany, France and Italy had collapsed due to missed deadlines and lack of contributions, especially from the French side".

"So this has some strong roots with a famous MBT doesn't it" Noriko simpered, "you are correct in that, in terms of a more correct name, us Italians called this version the Prototipo Standard B, its very similar to the original I B prototype, but us Italians gave it a small trick in the turret" Alfonso suggested, "and what's the trick?" Erwin asked, "have you heard of the OTO-Centauro project?" he questioned, "oh yeah, It was to create an autoloading mechanism for the Leopard series… wait, so your saying?" Yukari answered and then wondered, Alfonso smiled and slapped the side of the tank, "yes madam, we have that system in this tank, modified to use 90 mm shells, however we had to limit the system to three rounds, two in the magazine and one in the chamber in order to get it approved by the ETA, the beauty of it is that we can constantly top it off, I would also have to mention just like with Elk team we had to use APCR shells instead of the original APDS, but we also have HEAT-FS and HESH rounds, although our HESH rounds ain't nowhere near as effective as Falcon team's" he then revealed, "what about manurability?" Miho questioned, "well this thing is fast with the MB837A engine, allows us to get to sixty-five kilometres per hour, but that speed's at the cost of armour, this things only got fifty millimeters of front plate, and even less side and rear armour, that won't stop much" Alfonso answered.

Miho then stood there thinking for a bit, "Okay let's recap these new tanks" she then said.

"So the FV4005 is a heavy tank destroyer with five crew members, its gun is immensely powerful and can take out most enemies with a single shot, but has a long reload and the turret is rather weak in terms of armour".

"The Kranvagn is a heavy tank with three crew members, has a four round autoloader which allows it to hit multiple enemies in a single clip, and it also has good turret armour, but has a slow reload after the magazine is empty".

"The Standard B is a fast medium with four crew members, has a high top speed and a very versatile gun, but is lacking in armour protection and is rather fragile".

"You got that?" Miho then asked Erwin who nodded in return, "okay then, let's go to the strategy room, I like to see what's there" the commander suggested.

Alfonso, Erik and Noriko left them at this point as they walked through the corridor, as they had other stuff to do, they reached the room in question, the strategy room, upon walking into the room through the foggy windowed door they were bestowed by a large square table in the middle of the room, this table having a large map of the entire play area, with multiple seats and a grander looking desk chair surrounding it, the walls were also covered in maps and a blackboard, and the window which let light in did have a pair of blinds to go with it.

Anzu immediately claimed the large desk chair in the room, doing a spin in it as the others sat down in the other seats.

"This is the strategy room, where we're going to be making up all of our plans?" Yukari said while looking around the walls, "pretty much, I can tell I'm going to be spending a lot of time in here" Erwin replied.

"So Tom, how much do you know about the European schools which will be in this tournament?" Anzu then asked Tom, "oh, well tell me who's participating and I'll give some insight into their leaders and their tactics, I can't be sure on tanks, they may have changed them between the last European tournament and this one" the Falcon commander replied.

Anzu pulled out a piece of paper out of her pocket and read off the words.

"Žatec-Pilsen Girls Academy, DST and NTC compound team, SCARLAT Tankery School and MTF".

"Well let's start with Žatec-Pilsen, they're lead by a girl known as Zlata Vančura, and her vice-commander Marika Beneš, they mostly employ mediums and lights, and those tanks are a mixture of Czech inter-war vehicles and prototypes, and modified Soviet tanks" he described.

"They sound rather tough" Miho theorised, "yeah, but their major weakness is in command, Zlata has nerves made of dried twigs, she'll crack under any form of strain which is out of her control and will attempt to use the tankery equivalent of 'appeasement' tactics to ensure the survival of her forces under attack, but Marika is different, very hot-blooded, has a short temper, she believes in rock-hard defensive tactics, and telling everyone to stay put, of course both of them end up barking out their conflicting orders, the whole team is confused and everything goes south for them" Tom then described.

"Okay, what about DST and NTC?" Erwin continued the conversation, "oh god them, okay, DST is led by a rather large girl called Katarina Branković, very obnoxious, arrogant, and thinks everyone is below her, I've heard the grievances you've had in the past with Katyusha and Erika, but Katarina will make them both look like a bunch of dummy-sucking toddlers, NTC is led by a boy called Vlatko Milojević, he's has a quiet and demeaning mental state, he basically signed a black cheque with Katarina, do anything and I'll silently support it, in terms of tanks they have MBT's and they pride themselves on their technological advantage, but are small in comparison to other teams as these tanks are very expensive".

"Interesting, well next is SCARLAT isn't it?" Miho coaxed, "okay, the Specialized Central Academy of Romania for the Logistics and Academics of Tankery, and yes I did take the time to learn the acronym, are led by their 'captain' Theodor Ionescu and his vice-commander Daniel Vladimirescu, you'll get a lot of 'Garda de Fier' vibes off of them as well, they're colours and tactics are based off that certain historical group, they mostly employ tank destroyers and sneak attack tactics in order to destroy their opponents, and be prepared for them to charge, they have the mentality of 'we'll be glad to throw our corpses on our enemies to guarantee our captain's success', the crews will execute any orders from the captain without hesitation".

"And finally MTF" Erwin brought up the final school, Tom got them into his mind, "MTF, those Hungarians are led by a small girl called Annuska Cinege, she has a few sub-commanders, the closest to her is a guy called Tamás Sovány, then the other two are Margaréta Somogyi and Jakab Balázs, three words can describe their tactics, light tank swarm, they use mostly light tanks and will try to surround the enemy and distract them, while their other heavier vehicles sit further back and pick the tanks off one by one".

"And I think that's it" Tom finished, he had then just noticed that Erwin was writing down on a notepad, Anzu then looked out of the window, "looks like it's getting rather late" she pointed out, the others also looked out the window and also noticed the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, "yeah and that car will probably come soon to pick us up" Miho then mentioned, Tom looked at her confused, "ohh I forgot to mention a car will be coming to pick us up and take us to a meeting of all the commanders, I thought it was best if you came as well" she then explained, "oh god that means I'll have to come up against that Croat monster, well if you insist, I can attend" Tom then accepted with a bit of reluctance, "good, well we have everything now so you all can go and do whatever you need to do" Anzu said cheerfully, just as she pulled out another pack of sweet dried potatoes.

When the sun went below the horizon the lights of a vehicle came into the compound, and on time, Miho, Yukari, Momo, Erwin and Tom where waiting at the front door of the main building as the fancy looking limousine pulled up, a chauffeur wearing a suit and white gloves got out the driver's side, "are you the one taking us to the meeting?" Momo questioned, "yes madam" the chauffeur replied as he opened the rear doors for them, "thank you" Miho said as she got into the limousine, there was enough space in the back for all five of them, Tom and Momo sat themselves on the seat facing backwards while Miho, Yukari and Erwin sat on the back seat facing forwards, the chauffeur after closing the doors got back into his seat at the front.

"May I ask politely for you to put your seat belts on" he said with a polite tone, the four girls and the boy did exactly that, "thank you, now we shall depart" the man approved as he started the car moving.

"Why do you have that?" Erwin asked Yukari who was holding a micro camera, the same one which she used while infiltrating Saunders and Anzio, they had all been on the road for a while now as it had turned completely dark, "I brought this along so I can snap pictures of any tanks we may see, just so we have more intel on the other teams" she proceeded to explain, "well just don't go floundering that thing around okay, where tankers, not paparazzi wannabe's" Momo warned, "if you keep that attitude up, you'll end up being the last person anyone takes a fashionable picture of" Tom joked to himself, "what?" Momo spun around to him, "nothing!" he then quickly snapped, but the other girls couldn't help but giggle at that wisecrack.

The car then pulled up outside a building, the chauffeur got out and proceeded to open the door for them, "everyone ready?" Miho asked her group, "all peachy, now let's cause a ruckus" Tom grinned.


	5. ミーティング - The Meeting

**Well this part took quite a while to complete (at almost 8,000 words, its the longest chapter to date), I was going to have it even longer, but I decided to cut it up just so it didn't drag on.**

 **Am I missing something? oh yes the reviews.**

 **1:** **Can't wait to see the rest of these tank commanders** **,** **And I wonder who else will be at that meeting**

 **well read on, a nice pack of Europeans down there :-)**

 **2: I've been enjoying this far more than i should have, a bloody good read so far, definitely looking forward for the next chapter**

 **I'm glad your enjoying this, and here's the next chapter for you're pleasure.**

 **3: HAHA the freshman is short. I'm 5',2" and I'm a first year. Also lemme guess. You got theses tanks from WoT. I'm happy the you made this and the fact that I love the Swedish Kranvagn and British FV4005. Great chapter keep it up**

 **Yeah Douglas is the little one of the Falcon team, pretty much the first-year who got a easy ticket to the tankery scene by his older brother, and yes these tanks where from WoT, however may I stress that I do look up real information on these vehicles and they are based on how they would operate in real life (the P.44 Pantera is the only exception to this in this story), and thanks for the gratitude, it really helps :-)**

 **4: Nice chapter, but i tought a fight for leadership would happen...**

 **thanks! And when it came to leadership, Tom, Erik and Alfonso Salvatore (I forgot to mention his surname) do understand they are** **volunteers** **in Ooarai, and they fully know what Miho is capable of when she is commanding, Tom really just keeps the Europeans in line and acts more as an** **advisory** **to Miho, respecting her and Erwin's** **positions, however he may politely interject at some points** **.**

 **Also since this chapter contains some** **foreign** **languages, their will be translations included at the bottom.**

 **Okay, enough chit-chat, the chapter, here it is.**

* * *

 **ミーティング - The Meeting**

The scene was a sight to behold.

Looking into a large indoor plaza there was multiple people standing and walking around talking to each other, some of them being JSF and ETA officials, the Ooarai team was immediately approached by one of these officials, who was female and part of the JSF by her suit and the badge on her chest, "hi, you look like from Ooarai am I correct?" the woman asked the group, "yeah where from Ooarai" Miho answered her, "okay that's great, we will be having a private banquet in a while, but do go around and have a few conversations" the woman beamed, she then walked off and left the team alone again.

"Well where do we start?" Erwin asked, "Well I'd say we just walk into the plaza and wait for the banquet" Miho responded.

They walked past a few plinths which had tanks placed on them, with the tanks being a Type 74, a Leopard 2, a Char 2C and a male version of a Mark I 'Mother', Yukari stopped to admire them with her shimmering eyes, all in her own world, but Erwin then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along again, "now isn't the time for tank spotting" she coaxed, "but that 120 mm smoothbore gun" Yukari whined to herself in a needy way.

The group found themselves standing at a table with a few pamphlets strewn on it, not really being sure what to do or who to talk to, they just stood there, not willing to get in anyone's way.

"Not sounding rude, but I feel like we look like a bunch of twits standing here" Tom commented as they stood there, not really knowing what to do, "well it looks like most of the people are media, JSF and ETA officials, I personally won't want to start a conversation with them" Momo just deadpanned.

"So, you're here as well?" a calm voice came from their side, Ooarai turned to see Darjeeling standing there, with Pekoe, Assam and Rosehip behind her, all with their respected tea in hand.

"Oh, hi Darjeeling!" Miho greeted with a bit of excitement, "hi there Miho, how's your night going?" the St. Gloriana commander replied in kind, Miho rubbed the back of her head, "well, just sitting around doing nothing, what about you?" she answered and then asked, "doing the exact same thing, we arrived a bit earlier then we would've liked" Darjeeling continued, "how was that?" Miho then questioned, Darjeeling came up to the side of her head, "Rosehip was driving" she quietly mentioned, but the woman in question still overheard it, "hey! At least I got us here before anyone else!" the red-head argued, "even though it was thirty minutes too early, it doesn't matter" Assam then scolded, Pekoe just smiled at their small argument.

"Well I wonder who else managed to get here?" Yukari questioned to them all.

"Hey! Sergeant third class Oddball!" a familiar loud voice called out behind her, all of them turned to see the three Saunders girls, Kay, Alisa and Naomi standing there, Yukari sighed rather heavily, "can you stop calling me that Kay" she murmured, but Kay just walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "well, isn't that how you addressed yourself to our entire school sergeant?" the blonde asked, Yukari looked up to here with an unsure face, Kay just giggled in response and winked at her, "don't worry Yukari, the invite to our school is still open if you want to address yourself properly" she smirked.

Kay then turned her attention to the other girls, "how y'all tonight?" she greeted them, "where fine Kay, I've been wondering if everyone else got the invites" Miho responded, "sure they did, if they hadn't then we wouldn't be here right?" Kay chirped, "and I also see you brought the marksman and the codebreaker" Erwin smirked, Naomi cracked a smile while Alisa just rolled her eyes, "very funny, let's all laugh at the cheater" she scolded.

And in return everyone laughed, "I didn't mean it literally!" Alisa whined loudly, Kay just pulled her into a hug, "oh Alisa, you do make us all laugh despite all the things you do" she bubbled, with Alisa just blushing in embarrassment.

They then noticed another group walking towards them, and it was hard to not see it was Pravda, Katyusha was as usual on Nonna's shoulders, with Klara, Nina and Alina tagging along, "the great Katyusha is here and ready to fight!" the little one boomed with arrogance, the other school members could help but crack a smile, Tom however was in a bit of shock, "is she seriously a third-year student?" he whispered to Miho, "yeah, just don't go saying that in her face, she'll throw you in one of her 'gulags'" she warned, "noted" he said in return.

"What friend did you bring along with you Mihosha?" the little Pravda commander then asked Miho, her attention put directly on Tom, "oh me? I'm just one of the European volunteers who joined this team, I'm from a British school which won one of the past European tournaments" he explained himself sounding polite.

"Are boys not really allowed in tankery?" Nina whispered to her friend, "well he is from Europe and I've heard they do things differently over there" Alina responded to her question.

"Hmm, you do seem to have more courage compared to that other European we saw" Katyusha then mentioned, "wait who?" Miho said confused, "over there" Klara then pointed to a nearby pillar and they saw a girl standing there, with her back to them, with dark blonde hair, wearing a brown uniform.

"I'll go and introduce us" Miho then offered cheerfully, the others looked on as she walked up to the girl, she seemed to be rather fidgety by the looks of her arms, Miho not really being sure how to do things properly just came up behind her, "hey there" she asked.

The girl then yelped in fright and spun around on her feet, with them getting twisted together, she lost her footing and fell to the floor on her backside, after the embarrassing display, Miho was able to get a good look at her.

She stood (a moment ago) at 5' 3", had an average stature and a less than average bust, she wore a brown jacket with breast and jacket pockets, she wore a short, brown tube skirt and had a pair of black rugged boots, she had a pair of hazel eyes and her blonde hair was of average length, in a curly style.

Miho gasped and reached down to the girl, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to scare you!" she profusely apologised, the girl still in a bit of shock, hesitated a bit before grabbing Miho's arm, she pulled the girl back onto her feet, "y-you okay?" Miho stammered a bit, "ano, jsem v pořádku" the girl said in what could be described as the most youthful and beautiful Czech accent, Miho looked confused however as she didn't speak a lick of the language, the girl then jumped and blushed to her mistake, "err, I-I meant yes I'm fine" she quickly corrected herself, in English this time.

"Hey!" a loud feminine Czech voice them shouted out, Miho jumped as she saw another girl marching towards them both.

She stood at the same height, 5' 3" with an average stature and average bust, and wore a similar uniform to the other girl, she had brown hair which was tied back into a bun and had strong brown eyes.

"Who the hell do you think you are! Picking on my commander like that!" she continued to shout at Miho, stepping in between her and the other girl, Miho gulped at the angry girl and put her hands up in defence, "I-I-I didn't mean to hurt her, she just…" she tried to say.

"No! You put her hands on her you slimy…" the angry girl then snapped, but at that moment the other girl put a hand on her shoulder, "Marika! Stop" she beseeched to her companion, revealing her name, the girl known by that name turned to the other in confusion, "I just fell in clumsiness, she helped me up" she continued, Marika nodded her head in response, the blonde then turned to Miho, "I'm terribly sorry for that horrible display from me and my companion, I'm commander Zlata Vančura, and that is my vice-commander Marika Beneš, where both from Žatec-Pilsen Girls Academy" she took to introduce them both.

"Well… nice to meet you both, I'm Miho Nishizumi from Ooarai, I'm the commander of our Sensha-dō team" Miho introduced herself in return, "yeah, also sorry for acting like that, I do get rather bossy in those situations" Marika then apologized, "it's okay, I may apologise myself Zlata, I didn't mean to creep up on you like that" Miho responded to that sentence, scratching the back of her head, "don't worry, I'm just a bit, jumpy you know eh-heh" Zlata then said with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

At that point everyone else had come other to them, "is this the other teams?" Zlata then asked, "where just a few of them, don't know where the others are though, oh I'm Kay by the way" Kay then introduced herself, "so you're from the Czech Republic am I correct?" Darjeeling then probed, "yes we are, most of our members are Czech, but we also have a few Slovaks in our ranks" Marika replied to that question, Miho at this point then realized that Yukari was nowhere to be seen, she must have snuck away to look for tanks as behind her, the conversations continued.

"Zamasu!" a loud voice then called out, Miho spun around again to see who was the source, to her surprise she saw it was BC Freedom, she saw Marie (with plate of cake in her hand as usual), Andou and Oshida stood behind a girl she didn't recognise, "what, Asparagus!? What are you doing here?" Alisa said in shock, at least she recognised the new leader of that school, since she herself had taken part in a Tankathlon match, "hi there Alisa, you may remember me as one of the Tankathlon organisers, but now, I may say I've returned to my roots" Asparagus explained her position, "you're now the commander of BC Freedom again?" Darjeeling clarified, "exactly" Asparagus nodded.

At this point three more girls came up behind them, the large ponytails immediately showed that the one in front was Anchovy, with Carpaccio to her right and Pepperoni to her left, "the great Duce from the land of pasta is here!" the leader of Anzio gladly boasted, "hi Anchovy, so did you pack enough pasta for the tournament?" Kay giggled, "oh we did, probably enough for all of the schools in this tournament to have" Pepperoni then bumped in, Erwin then saw Carpaccio walk towards her, "hi Riko-chan, how's Taka-chan doing?" she questioned with a light tone, wanting to know how her childhood friend was doing, "she all fine Carpaccio, still doing what she does best, throwing shells around" Erwin chuckled to her, at that point, the entire conversation had just devolved into Anzio talking about the foods they loved.

"I didn't know that cuisine had such a prominent placement in tankery" a male voice then said, everyone turned to see two boys stood there, in their respected uniforms.

The first one stood at 5' 4" with an average stature, he was wearing a dark green uniform which consisted of a suit with breast and jacket pockets, under that a khaki shirt with a dark green tie, a leather belt also went around his waist with a golden buckle, coming down from his right shoulder was a leather strap which went across his chest and attached to the belt on his left side, his trousers were also dark green and on his feet where a pair of knee-high boots, and he wore over all this a dark green trench coat which hugged his body, on his head was a Romanian peaked cap which a gold-coloured triple cross in the centre above the visor, this covered his short brown hair and he had a pair of green eyes.

The boy next to him stood at 5' 7" with a thin stature and arms crossed, he was wearing a similar uniform to his companion, but with the lack of a trench coat and a peaked cap, instead choosing to wear a beret on his head, this covered very short grey hair and he had a pair of brown eyes.

"May I ask who you are?" Darjeeling politely questioned the two new faces, "I'm Theodor Ionescu, and this is my vice-commander Daniel Vladimirescu, we are both from SCARLAT" the one in the trench coat addressed himself and his subordinate, with a Romanian accent ever so present in his voice, "it's nice to meet you both, welcome to the tournament" Kay said with glee, Theodor just chuckled slightly and then looked over to Zlata, "have they been treating my fellow European nicely?" he asked her, "yes they have, they don't bite us" she answered, "oh don't be shy, we welcome all you Europeans with open arms" Asparagus smiled.

"Is that Theodor?" Miho said to Tom, "yep, Captain of SCARLAT, calm with a slight touch of gentleman's etiquette and Romanian nationalism, he is a well-respected commander in the European theatre" he answered, Erwin just looking at his uniform was getting a lot of Iron Guard impressions of him, and the fact they spoke Romanian and that language was closely related to Latin.

Daniel then leaned towards his captain, "Căpitane, crezi că fufa croată o să se poarte frumos?" he questioned in his native tongue, Theodor sighed, "Sunt convins că nu. Pregătește-te să fi tratat ca un gunoi," he replied sombrely, Erwin did catch those sentences, now she'd wished she brought Caesar along to do rough translations.

Chi-Ha-Tan then came up on them, which consisted of Kinuyo, Fukuda, Hosomi and Tamada, "hi guys, we managed to make it on time!" Kinuyo chirped, with everyone smiling in return, she then looked over to the Europeans, "oh, you are the Europeans, we massively welcome you to our culture of Sensha-dō" she greeted, with her and the other girls doing a welcoming bow, Theodor, Zlata and even Tom where taken aback from this greeting, "well thanks for the greet, where glad we're here to compete in this tournament with you" Zlata said nervously, the Chi-Ha-Tan girls then shot back up and Kinuyo gave a smirk, "great! You're free to explore all parts of our culture, trust me, you will enjoy it" she remarked.

The now large group heard the sound of an instrument, they saw it was Jatkosota coming up on them, with Mika (and kantele in hand), Aki and Mikko, "greetings all of you, I'm glad you all made it" Mika greeted in kind, "look out, it's the crazy BT-42 crew guys!" Kay joked, "hey! I can drive that thing in circles around you, without tracks!" Mikko then quickly counted, they both stood there for a while but then just laughed, but Katyusha then barged in, "hey! Also may I mention I'm still waiting for the return of those tanks you stole from Katyusha!" the little one barked, Mika however still stood there un-phased and looking cute as ever while pulling strings, "I thought we were still allowed to borrow them, our time with them still hasn't run out" she calmly said, although on the inside she just loved to play with Katyusha (and of course the time which they had set for the 'borrowing' was forever anyways), the little Pravda commander just snarled at her in response with Klara just sighing, "we're never getting those tanks back" she thought to herself.

"What does she mean by borrowed?" Tom asked Momo, "well actually they stole those tanks from Pravda, but Mika likes to use the term 'borrowed'" she pointed out, "ahh" Tom exclaimed in understanding.

"Well should we introduce ourselves?" Megumi asked her colleagues, "I don't know, I mean they do seem to be preoccupied right now" Rumi countered her, "oh is someone shy?" Azumi teased her fellow trio member, "says the one who had to be forced to wear a shirt and tie to look presentable" Rumi then shot back, Azumi really disliked wearing a shirt when it came to her uniform "oh come on it's free for them to look" she winked, "just to get those boys looking at your chest which is your only source of ego" Rumi then sniggered, with Azumi grimacing at her in return, Alice just turned to face them, "am I going to have to introduce ourselves while you two keep arguing?" she grunted, the two trio members then managed to put a smile on, Alice turned around and walked towards the group, with the trio following close behind.

Kay caught Alice walking towards them, "oh hi there Alice!" she chirped to the commander, then her eyes fixed on Megumi who was just behind Alice, Kay went over to her and suddenly gave her a large very tight hug, with Megumi jumping slightly from the sudden movement, "Megumi! Welcome back to the Saunders circle" she went in glee, tightening her grip even more, Naomi and Alisa couldn't help but smile at the sight, "err yeah Kay it's good to see my old school again but seriously your… choking me" Megumi wheezed under her strength, Kay mercifully let go, letting Megumi get her breath back.

Azumi came up to the BC Freedom members, "hello Asparagus, I'm surprised to see you back in tankery" she said to her old commander, "greetings Azumi, I see university life is doing you good things, and yes, I decided to come back to tankery thanks to some convincing from my sub-commanders" Asparagus inquired looking at her university uniform, Marie just kept taking bites out of her cake, not looking interested at what was happening in front of her, Oshida noticed this and elbowed her in the side, Marie hissed slightly from the action and quickly managed a smile for Azumi.

Miho smiled at Alice who was in front of her, "hi Alice, how's everything going?" she asked the little one, "I'm good, so I heard your mother sponsored the Boko museum" Miho replied in eagerness, "yes, it's been all renovated back to its former glory, you should visit it sometime" Alice entreated, "I'll be sure to" Miho added on while smiling.

At that point Miho then felt something tug on the back of her skirt, "huh?" she made a noise, she turned to see no-one there.

"Err hello?" a soft voice said, Miho then looked down to see a small girl in front of her.

She stood at a small 4' 2" with a small stature and an almost non-existent bust, she wore a brown leather coat with some rather thick greenish-brown trousers which went down into a pair of black, rugged boots, on her head was a green ushanka, with grey under fur and with a round red, white and green horizontal tricolour badge sewn into the forehead, the ears where also folded up and pinned on the top this covered her light brown hair which had four long braids coming off the back which in turn had a green ribbon tied on the ends of each, she had a pair of hazel eyes which were covered by a pair of oval glasses.

Miho had to admit, she was rather cute.

"Oh, hi there, sorry I didn't see you at first" Miho greeted her, the girl giggled in response then held her hand out, "Annuska Cinege, commander of Magyar Tank Főiskola, or MTF for short" she chirped, "hi Annuska, nice to meet you" Miho replied shaking her hand, "oh please, call me Annie" Annie then added on, "did you bring anyone with you?" Miho then asked her, "oh yes I did… ah, here they are!" Annie then answered, turning around and then noticing her three subordinates walking up to them.

The one to the left was a boy standing at 5' 4" with an average stature, he wore a greenish-brown uniform which consisted of a buttoned jacket with breast and jacket pockets and a belt which went around his waist, he also wore a pair of trousers of the same colour which went with a pair of back, knee-high boots, his short, black hair was covered by a cadet cap which had a high front peak, he also had a pair of dark blue eyes.

The central figure was a girl who stood at 5' 3" with an average stature and a large bust, she wore a similar uniform to the aforementioned boy, albeit with some of the buttons of her jacket undone revealing a green shirt underneath, she instead of wearing trousers chose to wear a greenish-brown skirt and black tights, she also lacked any headwear which showed off her long blonde hair which was tied back into a single ponytail, she also had a pair of lively green eyes.

The final figure to the right was a boy who stood at 5' 7" with a thin stature, his greenish-brown uniform was more akin to an officer of the Hungarian People's Army, it consisted of a blazer with two pairs of buttons covering a light green shirt and dark green tie, a leather belt went across his waist with a leather strap coming off his right shoulder and attaching to the belt on his left side, a pair of greenish-brown trousers went down into some black knee-high boots, he also wore a peaked cap on his head which covered some short, bushy brown hair, he also had a pair of dark brown eyes.

"Meet Tamás Sovány, Margaréta Somogyi and Jakab Balázs" Annie read out their names from left to right, "üdözletem!" the three subordinates said together, "nice to meet you all, welcome to the tournament" Miho welcomed them.

She then suddenly noticed that Nonna and Katyusha where behind her, they must've walked over in interest, "Mihosha, who is this girl you found?" the Pravda commander asked in curiosity, "oh you're Katyusha! I've wanted to meet you ever since I came here" Annie bubbled in happiness, Nonna on her commander's order put Katyusha down on her feet, both of them stood at the same height, with Annie presenting her hand "Annuska Cinege, but call me Annie, nice to meet you!" she presented herself, Katyusha grinned and shook her hand in response, "nice to meet you two Annie" she returned the gratitude.

"They look like they were made to be friends" Margaréta chirped in her high voice, "reminds me of two children in kindergarten making friends for the first time" Tamás added on, Jakab just rolled his eyes, "come on you guys you're embarrassing us all" he chastised.

"Well when is that banquet going to happen, it's happening now isn't it?" Tom then said with a slight hurried tone, "err Kuromorimine still isn't here yet" Momo then pointed out, "ehh, they can just jump in, can they? We should all go now so we don't meet…"

"Hey seljaci!" a loud female voice then called out, Tom cringed as he knew exactly who the voice belonged to.

"...her" he finished his sentence, with defeat now in his voice.

The group felt like some of the light was being blocked out as a very tall figure walked towards them, with a shorter figure following from behind.

The very tall figure who was a girl stood at a massive, full 6' tall and had a thin stature with an average bust, she wore a grey military uniform which consisted of a blazer with breast pockets and covered a white shirt with a black tie, with some small red and white checkered badges on the lapels, a black belt went around her waist with a strap coming off her right shoulder and coming across her chest and attaching to the belt on her left side, doing the opposite on her back, her grey trousers went into a pair of black, smooth knee-high boots, she had long brown hair which flowed down behind her head, she had a pair of sharp dark grey eyes.

The other figure was a boy who stood at a smaller 5' 6" and had an average stature, his uniform was of a similar design, minus the strap which went across his chest, and the fact the blazer and trousers where a dark navy blue, and the badges where different, showing his allegiance to a different school, he had short grey hair and a pair of blue eyes.

"Goddamn she's tall" Erwin said in shock at the girl's massive height compared to them, "yep, that's the Croatian 'Željezni-div', Katarina Branković, and her Serbian lapdog Vlatko Milojević, commanders of DST and NTC respectively." Tom quietly explained to her, Momo and Miho, "now don't fall for her insults, and for god sake don't mention the Yugoslav wars, you do that and she'll tear you in half straight down the middle" he continued to warn.

"The great Katarina Branković is here to show all of you pathetic ones how we win tournaments!" Katarina boasted, "wow not even a kind greeting?" Rosehip replied back in non-kindness, Katarina snapped her eyes on her and came right up to her, her size towering over the smaller St. Gloriana students, "and what makes you think you can speak to me like that little red-head?" she scolded in return, and just to add insult to injury she whisked Rosehip's tea off her saucer, with her gasping in return, Katarina drank the entire thing in one gulp, after savouring and disliking the taste she spat it all back out into the cup, and placed it back on Rosehip's saucer, "and that is why I stick to coffee" she said to herself and continued to walk, with Vlatko tagging along, Darjeeling was not impressed, "how slimy and disrespectful" she said to herself in disgust, Rosehip noticing a bin nearby, tipped her spoilt tea into it with a disgusted look on her face.

Katarina then felt something bump into her shoe, she looked down to see Katyusha at her feet, "hey! Show respect to Katyusha you slime ball!" she shouted at the tall Croat, "ohh how cute, a little baby commanding a high-school team, where's your mother?" Katarina insulted her, Katyusha at this point blew her top, "you call me a baby!? I have you purged and sent to…"

"...whoa!" before the Pravda commander could even finish that sentence, Katarina had reached down, picked her up from the ankle and whisked her up into the air, now she had her hanging upside-down from her foot (and it was a good thing Katyusha was in her tankery uniform, it would've been very awkward if she was wearing a skirt) a good four feet off the ground, all of Pravda and the others gasped in shock.

"Not so arrogant hanging upside-down, aren't you?" Katarina smirked, "PUT ME DOWN!" Katyusha yelled while flailing her arms and free leg around, "and why should I do that you pint-sized mutt?" the Croat continued to humiliate, "I WILL MAKE YOU SHOVEL THE SNOW OFF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL SHIP, AND MAKE YOU DO A YEAR'S WORTH HOMEWORK FROM THE ENTIRE SCHOOL IN A DARK DITCH, I'LL DO ALL THAT IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Katyusha continued to yell at the top of her voice, Katarina let out a sigh, "if you wish" she deadpanned, but her version of setting her down was just letting go of Katyusha's ankle while she was still above the ground, she fell and hit the hard floor on her back, with her wincing in pain from the fall, "you didn't say put me down gently" Katarina smugly pointed out, Nonna came and helped Katyusha back on her feet, she was right now struggling to keep her anger for Katarina inside her as she shot an angry look at her.

Annie then came up to them and stuck herself in between Katarina and Katyusha, "leave her alone you big bully!" she squeaked loudly, "oh look, the cheater has come to defend that little rat" Katarina scolded.

"Cheater?" Momo said confused, "MTF won a round against DST in one of the European tournaments, Katarina didn't accept the loss and accused Annie of cheating in fury" Tom explained.

"We beat you fair and square you sore loser!" Margaréta jumped in to defend her commander, "oh really? Care to explain why you Hungarians are so useless at everything else and have to resort to cheats?" Katarina smirked and moved on, Margaréta just stuck her tongue out at her while Jakab and Tamás shot death glares.

Katarina then walked past the Anzio group, she looked at Anchovy who just stood there looking back, the Croat smirked at her and continued to walk, "did he just smile at you duce?" Carpaccio said confused, "I think she just did" Anchovy replied, "but why?" Pepperoni added on, Anchovy just shook her head, she had no idea.

Now Chi-Ha-Tan where under the Croat's shadow as Katarina chuckled at them, "what's so funny?" Kinuyo hissed, with a scared Fukuda hiding behind her, "I know you all, I call you the lemming team, because that what you do, charge mindlessly into the enemy and get annihilated, am I correct?" Katarina taunted, "hey! At least we charge with honour unlike you!" Tamada raged at her, "does honour really matter anything when you're the laughing stock of tankery? Your team should be put out of its misery" Katarina spat, as she continued to walk "oh you did not…" Tamada continued to rant, but Hosomi stopped her, "you're wasting your breath Tamada-chan" she pointed out.

She came up to Jatkosota and SCARLAT, "hi there Theodor, I see your pointless Garda worship hasn't gone" she chided, "hi Katarina, it's a nice night tonight isn't it?" Theodor replied kindly, trying to keep it as a friendly conversation, Katarina just frowned as Theodor wasn't falling for it, she saw Mika just calmly playing a verse on her instrument, with Aki and Mikko stood next to her, the latter with her arms cross and looking tough, Katarina just huffed and continued walking, with her back turned, Mikko then stuck her tongue out at the Croat in protest, Theodor turned to the Jatkosota girls and gave a wink while Daniel smiled, Mika smiled in response.

"And here are the so-called university students" Katarina goaded at All-Stars, "so-called? At least we have skill compared to your ego" Rumi shot back, "oh look, it's the Bermuda Trio, do me a favour on the battlefield and do your fancy attack right into the guns of my tanks, it would be a pleasure, and I would ask for the same from your pint-sized commander" Katarina asked for and then scowled, "oh no you didn't!" all three trio members said in unison, but Alice stuck her hand up to stop them, "then would it be a large embarrassment if this pint-sized commander of the Shimada style beat you at your own game while you sat in your ivory tank thinking you were so skilled, when that skill was actually a facade you kept up with your loud mouth?" Alice spoke, lacking a comeback Katarina just huffed, "that won't happen" she scolded as she continued walking.

"Damn Alice when did you learn to stick it to the woman?" Rumi praised, Megumi and Azumi also smiled in return with Alice feeling rather smug.

Katarina skipped past BC Freedom (much to Asparagus' relief) and came upon Saunders, "oh god, it's the western imperialist gang, oh how much do I pity your type" Katarina said sarcastically, "what the hell's your problem?" Kay said back in a not-so cheery tone, "I should be asking you the same question, your kind getting involved in our squabbles, have you heard the term of keeping your nose out of other people's business?" the Croat continued to scold, "hey we ain't got anything against you guys" Alisa tried to calm, "well we do now, I usually treat my fellow Sensha-dō participants, friendly or enemy with respect, but you, you just look and sound like a spoilt brat" Kay dissed, Katarina just smirked, "I'll keep that in mind when we meet on the battlefield, but I can tell you right now, a bombing campaign won't save you this time" she warned.

She turned and her eye was caught on a certain face, Miho's face, Katarina recognised her immediately "that's the Nishizumi drop-out who won one of their tournaments" she thought to herself, now was the time to really show her dominance.

Erwin however had noticed this look, "commander I think she's eyeing you up" she cautioned quietly, "oh god save her" Tom mumbled to himself.

Katarina walked over to them, ignoring the other Ooarai students and studying Miho closely, Miho gulped as the Croat towered over her, but was surprised when she had a genuine smile on her face, "you are Miho Nishizumi am I correct?" Katarina asked politely, Miho just nodded in response, at that point, Katarina then took a knee just to get down to her height, "I've read up on you, and I have to say you are one of the most respectable commanders out there" she praised, "erm, thank you, I guess?" Miho just stammered, Katarina then let out a chuckle, "do you want to hear some advice from me on this tournament?" she inquired, "s-sure, what is it?" Miho replied.

She suddenly gasped as Katarina shot out and grabbed her collar, pulling Miho forwards until she was staring right into the Croat's cold, deadly eyes.

"Stay out of our goddamn way, we are destined to win this tournament, get in my way and I'll crush your pathetic little body under the steel of my tracks!" Katarina's words dripped with anger and hatred, Miho's face turned white as she felt like she was staring at the devil himself.

"Hey Baka-Slav!" a voice called out, Katarina's face twisted into a surprised plus angry expression, both her and Miho turned to the source of the voice.

Miho couldn't believe it, her sister Maho was stood right there, looking not too pleased with Erika just behind her with arms crossed.

"Are you talking to me?" Katarina sneered, "yes I'm talking to you, that's my sister you're manhandling, if you want to argue to a real Nishizumi, come over here" Maho calmly threatened with eyes closed, Miho didn't know what the Croat would do, but it seemed like Maho wanted to take all the threats for her little sister.

And it seemed to work, Katarina pushed Miho away and stood back up, she turned on her heels to and walked up to Maho, still towering over the older Nishizumi, but Maho wasn't phased at all from this height difference.

"What makes you think you're any different?" Katarina hissed at her, "you do seem to be a rather ignorant individual, where you spoilt during your upbringing?" Maho continued in a calm state, "what does childhood have to do with winning an argument? You Nishizumi's don't know how to win an argument at all" Katarina just grinned in smugness, not falling into the tangent, "I think it's truly relevant, childhood forges you into what you are in later life, for me and my sister, that was great skill in Sensha-dō, for you it seemed to forge you into a tall spoilt no-life who tries to make everyone else miserable" Maho said back, "yeah right, despite that, you Nishizumi's and fellow Shimada's are just all show and no purpose".

"You don't know anything about little Alice!" Megumi then shouted over from the university group, but Alice just stuck her hand up at her, "not now Megumi, this is between them two" she patted down.

"Just admit it 'Kattie', your clutching at straws at this point" Erika then jumped in, Katarina snapped onto and stared daggers at her, "when could you speak to me like that, call me that again and you will feel the consequences" she hissed in return, Erika just smiled, "oh sorry did I hit a nerve?" she said in a fake apologetic voice, "I didn't know your arrogance was that fragile" she continued, "oh you don't know me, my strength and national pride far outweighs your pathetic words and empty insults" the Croat bellowed at her.

"Well I see that national pride didn't save your past country eh?" Erika joked with a smile.

And that sentence was the final straw for Katarina.

A wave of exclaimed shock and then hatred went across her face, she brought her palm up and whisked it down with a large amount of force, her palm contacting Erika's smug cheek with a loud crack, everyone gasped and cringed from the sickening noise.

"Ooh and that's the forbidden Yugoslav war mention, now Erika's really going to get it now" Tom spilled after his cringe.

Erika stumbled back in shock from the force of the slap with a raw slap mark present across her left cheek, Maho managed to keep her on her feet, but now the Kuromorimine students had to deal with one red-faced and really ticked-off Katarina.

The Croat tried to lunge again at Erika, but at this point Vlatko who had been silently observing grabbed onto Katarina's blazer, still with a stern look on his face, keeping her back as she swatted her arms at them, "YOU DARE INSULT THE GLORIOUS LEGACY OF OUR COUNTRY!? I'LL TEAR YOUR LIMBS OFF ONE BY ONE AND CRUSH YOU INTO PULP YOU STUPID DROLJA!" she continued to yell and scream.

"Is someone going to step in and stop them?" Pekoe pleaded, "I'm actually enjoying this" Marika replied with a smirk who was just nearby.

It was a good thing Ami Chōno is there when you need her.

Ami dashed in between the two squabbling parties and pushed Katarina away from Erika and Maho, trying to break it up, "knock it off you two!" she shouted in authority, "that woman insulted me! She deserved to be kicked out!" Katarina shouted in Ami's face.

Ami managed to calm her down and got a good look at her "oh your Katarina Branković, I've heard your already in deep hot water with the ETA through your antic's" she shamed, everyone looked on, "jeez, even Ami is shorter than that giant" Miho thought to herself in disbelief.

"Well these people show no respect to me upon the first gaze, so why should I return the favour?" Katarina continued to fume.

"That isn't true! She started it! She drank my tea and spat it back out again!..." Rosehip called foul.

"...and picked the great Katyusha up and dropped her!..." Katyusha added on.

"...and insulted our tradition!..." Tamada continued.

"...and called our commander pint-sized!..." Azumi goaded.

"...and got angry at us for no reason!..." Kay pushed.

"...and slapped my vice-commander" Maho pointed out with her more subtle voice, with Erika still rubbing the area in question.

Ami turned to the Croat, "I think you need to apologise if you want to gain some respect back with them and me" she shamed, Katarina just laughed in response, "apologise!? Apologies are a sign of weakness, and I'll show none of that to any of you!" she chastised in defiance. Ami huffed in defeat and turned to the others.

"I just came over here to let you all know that the banquet is ready, if you want to go there while I deal with this issue, go ahead" she advised with her normal cheerful voice, Katarina behind her huffed and Ami swung around to her again, "well you can go and enjoy your pathetic banquet because we won't be attending, especially from all this bias against us" Katarina scoffed, she turned on her heel to face towards the exit, "come on Vlatko, let's leave these idiots to their night, I told you coming here was a waste of time" she continued to insult, they both began to walk away from them all, but then Vlatko stopped.

"And don't think that you won against her in the war of words will mean you will win against us on the battlefield" he spoke for the first time, with a Serbian accent present in his low voice, he then turned back to them and looked at them with his piercing eyes, "after these insults she will show no mercy to any of you, I will personally not stand in the way of anything she does to you, and you can remember this day when you are in the muddy ground under her heel, as you all brought this on yourselves" he warned, he then turned around again holding his hand up, "zbogom" he waved off and continued to walk out.

"And that ladies and gentleman is DST and NTC in a nutshell" Tom said to them all, "what a bunch of barbarians" Darjeeling roasted, "well now you know what us Europeans have to deal with" Theodor then mentioned, everyone looked at him, "you saw how she treated you here, well that's how she treats us all the time" Zlata asserted, "I feel sorry for you all" Kinuyo said apologetically, "ehh don't worry about us, we got use to her insults after a few matches" Annie said cheerfully.

Ami decided to get them all back on track with a smile now on her face, "well, shall I lead you all to the invited banquet?" she asked, everyone agreed with her, "okay then, just follow me" she ordered, walking and beginning to lead everyone to the appropriate room.

"Erm, sister" Miho called over to Maho, she stopped and looked over to her little sister, "thank you for taking her on" she thanked, "don't mention it, but can you do something for me?" Maho replied to her, Miho listened on, "if you meet that giant on the battlefield, even though you follow a different style to us, show her still that the Nishizumi name doesn't take too kindly to people who only show rudeness and insults" she implored, Miho silently nodded in return, Maho managed a small smile, "good, now let's go" she suggested, they both walked and caught up to their respected group as they walked out of the plaza.

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Translations

Ano, jsem v pořádku = yes, I'm okay (Czech)

Căpitane, crezi că fufa croată o să se poarte frumos? = Captain, do you think the Croat bitch will behave? (Romanian)

Sunt convins că nu. Pregătește-te să fi tratat ca un gunoi = I'm convinced she won't. Get ready to be treated like garbage (Romanian)

Üdözletem = Greetings (Hungarian)

Seljaci = Peasants (Croatian)

Željezni-div = Iron Giant (Croatian)

Drolja = whore (Croatian)

Zbogom = Goodbye (Serbian)


	6. ビュッフェと情報- Buffet and Information

**Yeah, Procrastination, need to stop doing it, but hey, got this part for you all, and now the reviews...**

 **1: Yes the info on each of the competitions' bust size was much needed. Heh, seriously though, not shitting on the story in any sense, keep going. I can already tell with the entrance of Katyusha on steroids, this is gonna be interesting. Good luck with the writing. It can be difficult, I tried it once, got three chapters done and a few drafts prepared and the spark was just gone, hope that doesn't happen with this one!**

 **Heh, I can see what you mean when it comes to the bust size, but I personally use it as one good point of describing what a woman looks like in a story, it also give a hard definition and reduces variability (for example, some more 'perverted' readers may think all these new female characters have DD sized busts :-/) but defining them in writing kinda stops that from happening, but thanks for the question, and thanks for the motivating paragraph, I admit myself I've had some previous stories in other fanfic's which I've never finished, I'm hoping to god I can finish this one, but thanks for the motivation!**

 **2: Oh boy that was something.**

 **I wonder in future chapters that Maho and Shiho misunderstands Tom being Miho's boyfriend and go nuts about it even going though the lengths spying where ever they go and kidnapping Tom and interrogating about there relationship between him and her and all while he is completely terrified at what's happening and Miho coming in to save him and explain what's happening.**

 **Hmm, wasn't originally planning for something like that, but I think you just gave me an idea ;-)**

 **3: And if they where on brazil little miss katrina would be in death row facing charges of attempt murder...**

 **4: Well looks like Katrina is a brat that needs to learn. With a sledge hammer to the gut**

 **Katarina: You mad _seljaci's!?_**

 **Yeah but seriously, I designed her in such a way that she isn't just an annoyance to the characters in the story, but to the reader as well, a good technique to create a very good antagonist.**

 **Also, I found that liking things to a Facebook page is a good way to get around the link-ban that FanFiction enforces, on my profile homepage is a link to a Facebook post, this in-turn links to a Google Document which contains more information on the schools, images to tanks, that sort of thing, I will be updating it as new things come apparent in the story (I even designed the Logo's for the European schools in Inkscape BTW, link is on that document).**

 **And finally, this chapter is the end of the long Introduction (finally), after this is actual action in the tournament.**

 **Enough talk, the chapter, here it is.**

* * *

 **ビュッフェと情報- Buffet and Information**

"If you keep rubbing your cheek it will only get worse" Maho calmly scolded Erika, who could not stop rubbing the area of her face which Katarina had slapped earlier.

Now all of them where sat down at a long and large wooden table, with a row of chairs on each side, all but three of the chairs were filled as everyone had helped themselves to all the various cuisine which was laid out, Saunders had already gone for the chips, hamburgers and other fast food, St. Gloriana had a few crumpets and cupcakes, Anzio had the pasta and lasagne, Chi-Ha-Tan had a large gathering of onigiri and all the other schools had their assortment of food.

Miho was currently biting into a piece of chicken katsu, she was still however aware of the empty seat between her and Erwin, there were also two more empty seats in the opposite row, but it was obvious that everyone was glad they were empty after the antics which had happened a few moments ago.

"So, do anyone of you think that Katarina will have any form of punishment for what she did?" Kinuyo wondered to everyone, "I hope she does that tall brat" Erika groaned while still rubbing her cheek, to the point where Maho literally forced her hand down by herself.

"It's sad to say but I highly doubt it" Theodor consoled, the visor of his cap covering his eyes as he had his arms crossed, "why's that?" Aki then questioned him, "for any form of punishment to be bestowed on any individual, or individuals or even an entire school, it requires an agreement to be reached between a small council of ETA members, and being honest, they're a bunch of cowards" he proceeded to explain.

"So? What's just stopping them from slapping down a punishment?" Rosehip snorted, "you don't know Katarina" Annie then jumped in and proceeded to explain, "she may have just ruined her reputation with you all here, but back in her home country of Croatia, she's immensely popular with her fans, no matter what she does, how controversial it is, her fans will still support her, if the ETA or now the JSF tries to do anything against her, they will all go berserk and threaten the authorities, make complaints and trash the reviews of any ETA programs, and all that scaremongering has worked for her every time, now the ETA is sacrificing our defences against her antics, just to make sure their media affiliates continue to get all of the viewership from the Balkans without any backlash".

"Urgh, it's always the cool ones who get to do everything they want" Kay scolded, at that point Alisa and Naomi looked at her suggestively, "what!?" Kay snapped at them both, not realising the hypocrisy in her statement.

"But, if you want a piece of laughable trivia, you may had noticed when she had her loud mouth open the pair of yellowed teeth she had" Marika then told, "and why is that?" Alice asked, "that's because she a smoker" Zlata finished Marika's statement.

"What!? A smoker at her age?" Oshida exclaimed surprised, "that's disgusting" Assam said to herself negatively, "but yet again, nobody dares call her out on it, because, you know why" Tom finished.

At that point while everyone was still recovering from that piece of knowledge, Ami came back into the room and stood by a larger chair at the end of the table.

"Hello everyone, now may I start by saying that I've reported the actions of Miss Branković to the ETA authorities, however I can't guarantee if they will take action" she mentioned.

"Told you so" Theodor said to the others.

"Anyways moving on from that, I am happy to say that we have a special guest who I like to introduce you all to a prominent member of the ETA council". And at that point a man walked into view and stood next to Ami.

He looked rather old, with a wrinkled face as he stood at the same height as Ami, he wore a dark blue Swedish officer's uniform, with blazer complete with military decorations, trousers and black shoes, he wore a peaked cap on his head of the same colour which covered his short grey hair, he also had a grey bushy moustache under his nose and a pair of wrinkled blue eyes.

"Meet Retired Generallöjtnant Thorvald Sigmund Emil, High school and University league instructor for the ETA" Ami described.

"Hallå my Japanese and European guests, it's a pleasure to see you all here today" Emil greeted himself, his deep, old Swedish accent being present in the room.

"Do you know what he does exactly?" Miho asked Tom who was sat next to her, "who Emil? Guys that is the man who trained Elk team at Gotland Military Tankery School, who is one of the most prominent members of the ETA, and the man who reformed tankery in Europe which allow us boys into it" he explained.

At that point there was the sound of a door opening and closing, Miho along with everyone turned to see who it was, and it was Yukari who had a bit of a panicked look on her face seeing everyone looking at her, "oh sorry did I miss everything?" she apologised, "nah, we were just getting started Oddball" Kay smiled at her, Yukari rushed over to the empty seat, muttering sorry as she sat down in between Miho and Erwin.

At that point Ami and Emil sat down in their seats at the end of the table, looking down the length at everyone to either side, "okay now, 'most' of us are here, let us begin with the last talks before the start of this tournament" Ami began, trying to ignore the absence of DST and NTC, which personally she was glad for.

"Where have you been?" Miho leaned over to and whispered to Yukari, "oh, just did a bit of recon" the fluffy returned, showing the micro camera out of her pocket, "got a few pictures of some film showing some of the European tanks, should be good to scour through" she finished.

"May I start that this tournament has been the result of a lot of work and co-operation between both the JSF and the ETA in order to make this entire event possible, the director of the JSF Shichiro Kodama and the current chairman of the ETA Stanisław Warszawski have been grateful for all of you taking part in this historic moment". Emil announced.

At this point Miho just zoned out in thought, she was still thinking about too many other things on her mind.

What specific tactics would these new European schools use on the battlefield?

What specific tanks will they use?

What they will do in times of victory or defeat?

She was so deep in her mind though, she had completely forgotten they were in a meeting...

"...any questions?", Miho suddenly came back to reality as Ami and Emil had finished all the talking they had to do, everyone else was still silent which showed the lack of questions.

"Okay, now since this whole tournament is still technically just a long battle, we need to go through procedure, so, Japanese students rise" Ami then ordered, on que, all the Japanese students rose from their seats, all of them looking at the one positioned on the other side of the table.

"Good luck to you" Ami then said, bowing down.

"Good luck to you!" all the Japanese students complimented each other and bowed in the process… well, nearly all.

Miho noticed that Marie wasn't bowing, still stood there with a smile on her face, Asparagus had noticed as well, still in her bowing position, she put her hand on Marie's back and amusingly forced her into a bow, with her gasping as a result.

After a short time, the Japanese students then stood straight again and sat back down.

"European students rise" Emil then called out, him and all the European students, including Tom stood up out of their seats, amusingly, just to get a bit of extra height, Annie had decided to stand up on her seat, making her more level with everyone else.

"Good luck on the battlefield" Emil then said, saluting with his right hand.

"Good luck on the battlefield!" all the European students complimented each other and saluted with their hands.

After a short time, they stood at ease and sat back down.

"Now that everything has been accounted for, any last thing?" Ami then asked them all, "yes, you don't mind a little toast from me?" Darjeeling answered her, "go right ahead" Ami replied to her.

Darjeeling stood back up, still with tea in hand, "I will finish this night by saying to all of you, that this tournament, and I think I'm right in thinking you all will agree with me on this point, is a tournament we all have never seen or comprehended before, it may be all new to us, but I can see all of us pulling through these next two weeks, so my Japanese, and new European friends…" she then took a pause to take a sip of her tea.

"...good luck, and may the best team win".

Now everyone was walking out of the plaza at their own pace, the Ooarai group all being together we're walking out of the building, but what they didn't realise that above them on one of the upper floors, leaning on the railings was a figure looking down on them.

Shiho in her black suit was rather curious by the new boy who was now moving around closely with her younger daughter, sure she may have almost disowned her, but it's the job of a mother to always keep an eye on her siblings, and in her eyes, they looked like they were getting close.

Almost too close...

Outside the Anzio gang where walking back to their truck which Pepperoni had driven them here in, "we'll all of that was interesting wasn't it" Carpaccio said to the others, "yeah, rather eventful, but that Croat though, jeez she was something" Pepperoni fretted, "well let's get back to base, I'm tired as it is" Anchovy decided, as they neared the truck, Carpaccio noticed a piece of paper tucked in between the wiper and the windscreen, "hey, look at this piece of paper on the windshield" she called out, taking it out of its place, "oh god don't tell me it's another parking ticket, I've already got five of them under the seat" Pepperoni whined, "yeah, remember when you tried paying that traffic warden with a half-used tube of tomato-purée?" Anchovy mocked, "hey! It was very well sought after discounted purée okay" Pepperoni defended herself, Carpaccio opened the paper up, "well Duce it's not a parking ticket" she started, "oh thank god" Pepperoni gasped, "but it's a note" Carpaccio then continued, "well what does it say?" Anchovy asked, Carpaccio proceeded to read it out.

"Dear Anzio

My visit with all of your fellow schools has ended up leaving a disgusting taste

in my mouth, their imperialistic, insulting and provocative ways forced us to leave before the conversations even started, but out of all of those idiots, your small school does seem to have the hope of a friendship in it, that is why your Duce and her subordinates are welcome to visit our home base at any time under a white flag, I'll be looking forwards to meeting and having a civilised conversation with you without those other moronic schools getting in the way.

Yours sincerely, Katarina Branković, Commander of DST."

"What? That crazy Croat giant likes us!?" Pepperoni exclaimed in shock, "looks like she does, what do you say Duce?" Carpaccio then asked her superior, Anchovy just stood there for a while in thought, but then just shook her head, "I don't know, I'll have a think about it, but does it feel wrong to try and make friends with someone who treats others like dirt?" she then replied with, opening the door on the truck and getting in, "hmm, well at least she won't hate us, which if you ask me is worth it" Carpaccio answered that question as she got into her seat, Pepperoni got into the drivers position, "well lets deal with this another time" she then offered, starting the truck up, "yeah, we have other things to deal with right now, like cooking a big supper of pasta for the team when we get back" Anchovy beamed.

The drive back for Ooarai in the limousine was just as uneventful as the drive earlier, although they could tell Yukari had some built-in excitement inside her as she couldn't stop fidgeting.

They came back into the courtyard of their home base, being lit up by a few floodlights dotted around the area on poles or on the side of the structures, when they stopped the chauffeur did his thing and opened the door for them, when they thanked him he parted with them, got back in the limo and drove out of the complex.

The five members turned to see Moyoko and Saemonza at the front door of the main building, probably taking a break outside in the night air, "hey you guys are back, how was it?" Saemonza asked them, "well, very interesting, that's all I can say" Erwin responded to her, "hey Moyoko, did anyone go to bed or anything?" Miho then asked the morals committee member, "ehh all the boys and most of the girls went to bed, but I think the student council is still up and doing things, Sodoko did set a hard time for lights out which I think is coming up soon" she replied, "well where going to be an exception to that tonight, also can you tell Anzu and Yuzu to show up at the strategy room, Akiyama wants to give us a debriefing on some tanks" Momo then ordered, "I do that right now" Moyoko responded and walked back into the building, "and I think it's wise you go and get some sleep Monza" Erwin then proposed to her fellow Hippo team member, "sure thing, I was getting tired anyways" Saemonza answered.

After ten minutes of waiting in the strategy room, Momo, Anzu, Yuzu, Erwin, Tom and Miho where sat in the chairs around the main table, watching Yukari as she set a projector pointing at a white screen she pulled down in front of one of the chalkboards, she stuck the SD card containing all the images into a slot on the projector and grabbed a remote, with the machine turned on, she sat back in one of the seats.

"Okay, I found this room in the building which was playing a slideshow of images of the European tanks, I managed to snap a picture of all of them without being noticed by the JSF and ETA members watching it, but may I disclaim that these images were taken during a past European tournament, so the teams may have got some new tanks in between now and then" Yukari introduced, "interesting you managed to find it, well you're the tank nut so I'll let you go" Tom praised, "great! Well let's start with Žatec-Pilsen" Yukari bubbled.

She hit the button on the remote and the first tank popped it, it looked rather small and unremarkable, "that's an LT vz. 34, a small seven and a half tonne tank, armed with a small 37 mm cannon and only having around 15 mm of armour, but their cheap and plentiful".

The next tank was a tank which the whole of Turtle team recognized, "hey, that's a Panzer 38t, the same one we once had" Anzu called out, "more correctly an LT vz. 38, that's the Czech designation for it before the Germans took them over, basically the same tank we had before it was upgraded into the Hetzer, so we know what to expect from this one, fast and agile".

The next tank however was new to them, "an ST vz. 39, has a different suspension system and is heavier than the previous tanks, it has up to 32 mm of armour and a 47 mm gun to go with that".

The next one was however very interesting, a tank with sloped armour and a flowing turret design, "this one is interesting, it's a Škoda T-25, important things to note is that its packing a 75 mm L/55 A18 gun with a three-shot magazine, it's also rather quick due to a powerful engine despite its size so keep that in mind".

The next tank looked just like a T-34, "now I know what you're thinking, that looks like a T-34-85 Akiyama, but that isn't just a normal T-34, it's a Konštrukta T-34/100" Yukari told, trying hard not to butcher the Czech pronunciation, "it has a 100 mm gun in that turret in place of the 85 mm which unlike the latter hits like a ton of bricks, so don't underestimate it if you meet it".

"And the final tank in Žatec-Pilsen's arsenal, well which I could find" she flipped onto the next image, a large tank with a long barrel and flat surfaces, "a TVP VTU Koncept, equipped with the VTU turret and the large 105 mm vz. 39N in it, it hits hard and moves fast, however its armour is lacklustre so we should have no problems damaging it, that being if you shoot first, also looking at the fact it's acting as a flag tank in this image tells me it's going to be the tank that Zlata uses".

"Good, up next is DST-NTC compound team" Momo then mentioned.

"Okay, brace yourselves because as I feared, they're using MBT's" Yukari warned.

The first vehicle looked like a T-55, but it had extra armour plates on its hull and turret and a few extra bits, "that to me looks like a T-55, but more specifically a T-55AI, better known as the Igman, it's a Yugoslav built version of the T-55, has extra spaced armour plates and utilizes parts from the M-84, seeing NTC badging on it tells me it's the Serbians who are going to be using them in the compound team".

"May I ask something, is reactive armour banned fully by the rules? Because I know some MBT's have that type of armour" Yuzu said confused, "it is, but teams like DST and NTC get around it by taking the explosive out of the armour plates, which doesn't make them reactive armour anymore, just bog-standard spaced armour, not as effective but still a headache if your shooting HEAT or HEAT-FS rounds" Tom then explained.

"Yeah I was thinking about that when I saw the images, anyways next tank" Yukari got back on track, the next vehicle definitely represented a Soviet-era MBT, "now thats an M-84, has a front made of thick composite armour, a thick turret with a large 125 mm smoothbore gun spitting out HEAT-FS rounds at a high velocity, fast due to a very powerful diesel engine, it's definitely a real challenge to take down, I found two versions of it, the standard M-84 with DST badging and a more special M-84AS with NTC badging".

She showed an image of the M-84AS, and it had Vlatko standing just next to it, "seeing that Vlatko is next to it in this image tells me it's his command tank, the main differences to note about it is extra armour plates on the hull and turret, better fire control systems and extra optics".

"So how do you take one of those things out?" Anzu then asked, "side shots, the M-84 was based on the T-72 which was notorious for blowing up from a side shot into the magazine, well I doubt an M-84 will blow up in this tournament due to all the crew-safety regulations, but even so, it's a good way of getting around the thick composite armour in the hull front and turret to destroy the crew compartment, also I'll mention its diesel engine is also really loud, you can hear them from some distance away so it's best to take advantage of that fact" Yukari explained.

"Now, SCARLAT is next" she said as turned her attention back to the screen.

The first tank in their arsenal looked rather insignificant, it was small and only had an armament of two machine guns, "that's a R-1 tankette, it may look pathetic with its machine guns but its small and fast, and seeing the extra communication aerials on it, it may be acting as some kind of recon vehicle for them".

The next tank looked like another Panzer 38t, "a Romanian Panzer 38t, they designate it as the T-38, pretty much the same, nothing special here".

The next image contained two tank destroyers, "now these two were originally open-topped tank destroyers, but it looks like SCARLAT had enclosed them in order to make them comply with the rules, the one on the left is a TACAM T-60, with the superstructure being slightly taller and longer in order to fit the backplate and roof with hatches, and the one on the right is a TACAM R-2, with the rear of the superstructure closed up and hatches added to the roof, I expect to find these hiding in a bush or behind a ridgeline in the field".

"A bit of trivia for you, because of the cramp conditions in the TACAM T-60 due to the enclosement, Theodor has first-year students manning them" Tom then mentioned.

The final image contained what looked like two Panzer tanks, "again another case of Romania borrowing tanks from Germany, the tank to the left is a T-3, basically a Panzer III N, and the one of the right is a T-4, a Panzer IV H lacking the Schürzen skirts on the hull and only having it around the turret, seeing the flag on the T-4 tells me it could be their command tank".

Miho could see Yuzu scribbling down all the notes on a notepad, Anzu as usual just kicked her feet up on the table and pulled out another packet of dried sweet potatoes.

The final school on the list was MTF.

The first image of a tank for them was a light tank, it looked small and had a small gun to go with it, "that's a 38M Toldi, specifically a IIa model with a 40 mm gun, based off the Swedish Landsverk L-60B, very fast and nimble" she switched to another picture which had a Toldi with Margaréta sitting on its cupola, with her posing for the camera, her Toldi had the tank's signature circular antenna on the turret, "and looking at this Toldi, I think Margaréta is the one who commands all the Toldi's by the antenna which is attached to command tanks" Yukari theorised.

The next picture contained two tanks, both being similar medium tanks, but each had a different main armament, "these two tanks are similar to each other, the one on the left is a 40M Turán I, the one on the right is a 41M Turán II, they're pretty much the same tank mobility and armour wise, but the difference is in armament, the Turán I is armed with a long barrelled 40 mm gun while the Turán II is armed with a short barrelled 75 mm gun".

The final picture was of a self-propelled gun, being based on a Turán hull with a large howitzer poking out the front, "and that is a 43M Zrínyi, specifically a Zrínyi II, armed with a large 105 mm MÁVAG howitzer, its shells hit hard and its low profile makes it hard to see if it's in cover, also its acting as a flag tank in this image so I'm guessing this is the tank Annuska will use" Yukari finished.

"Her nickname is Annie" Momo then corrected her, "oh right" Yukari quickly corrected herself,

"But that's all the tanks I could find in the images, but I doubt that's all of them, I've also heard rumours that some of our schools like St. Gloriana, Saunders, Pravda, Anzio, BC Freedom and maybe more have gotten a few new tanks for their arsenal, I've even heard things like Chi-Ha-Tan having something called a 'HT No. 6' whatever that may be I don't know yet, so it's best to still be prepared for anything we may meet" Yukari warned.

"Well thanks to this, we now know most of the vehicles the Europeans will be fielding in this tournament, thanks to you" Miho congratulated, "oh thanks commander!" Yukari bubbled, fidgeting with her hair and blushing to the praise.

At this point however Anzu let out a loud yawn, "well ladies and gentlemen I think it's time we went to sleep, it's too late" she suggested, "so when does the tournament start again?" Erwin asked while rubbing an eye, Tom then checked his watch, "five o'clock in the morning" he respond, "okay, we'll all go the bed and we'll plan our first operation in the morning, sound good?" Miho suggested, everyone nodded in return, "okay, well 'Panzer Vor' to the beds" she then joked, with the others cracking a smile.

* * *

The early morning air was still in the small town, it looked like a normal modern Japanese styled town square, the concrete pavement in the centre surrounding the water fountain and the market stands surrounding the area looked lively and inviting, the buildings enclosing the square where also nicely decorated.

The only thing which was missing was people, however, there was no-one to be seen.

As this town wasn't built for people, it was built as a playground for tanks.

And the crates of industrial resources in trailers among the market stands where a clear indicator of this, as this town square acted as one of the supply depots on the map.

A clock which overlooked the square hit five o'clock, the short chime it let out into the air was met with the sound of starting engines.

Coming out from being one of the builds where multiple inter-war vehicles, coloured in light grey and black striped camouflage and the ominous kanji characters '人造の' on the side of their turrets.

The first tank was a T-26, which started to drive towards the edges of the town to take a defensive position, it was followed by a Panzer II and a Strv m/31, also in the same camouflage.

To another direction, a T-60, Type 95 and a Hotchkiss H-35 came out from behind another set of buildings, they turned towards another direction to take defensive positions in other parts of the town.

But in the centre, two large tanks came out and proceeded to take covering positions in the square, to the left, a Soviet T-35 and to the right, a German Neubaufahrzeug.

The Jinzōno had awakened, and the tournament was now on.


	7. 最初の動き - First Moves

**I'm going to admit, I was originally planning for the combat to happen in this chapter, but I'm going to have to save it for the next chapter just to keep it all orderly, this chapter basically outlines what happens on a morning before an operation.**

 **now the reviews.**

 **1: fv4005 heh, that big boi can wreck conqueror into two pieces with one shot, crazy british HESH. but the turret so thin that 50 cal can penetrate it. kinda sad no ATGM, but remembering me playing Maus in war thunder and getting rekt by bunch of weasels and swingfires in armored warfare. yeah man it suck**.

 **pretty much in a nutshell why I included it in this story, crazy big f**k off gun which can ruin the day of anything it hits, also that's exactly the reason why ATGM's are banned, I had a long think about it and decided in the end they would be too overpowered in this sort of scenario.**

 **2: Lovin it can't wait for the next one. Now that Shino has seen Tom oh boy looks like Tom is gonna be on a silver plater and he is gonna get spyed on get threatening letters and possibly having her look over him as he sleeps I known a bit creepy but still a mother is always looking out for her children and Shino is no exception and Maho will join in as well out of concern for her little sister. I thank you for that gave you an idea for this and I hope you possibly add this for just to add to more possible comedic possibilities.**

 **ok I probably wont go 'that' far down the rabbit hole, but thanks to your suggestion I've got a side chapter planned for this, again thanks for the funny suggestion, it actually kinda cracked me up ;-)**

 **3: Hello again and good afternoon, sorry for the silly joke last chapter, but i'm writing this to express my concern that european teams might be overpowered like or little bitch beating Black Forest Peak the school that won 9 years in a row on the land of sensha-do.**

 **dont apologise for the joke, it actually cracked me up :-), also I have meticulously planned the tanks which the Europeans use and I'm fairly confident it's balanced (probably), also some of the Japanese schools will be getting new tanks, so that helps balance it out even more, but I do go along by the principal, it's not just about how strong the vehicle is, it's how you use it.**

 **now with that aside, here's the chapter.**

* * *

 **最初の動き \- First Moves**

Seven o'clock in the morning, and in the female barracks, a familiar battle was in full swing.

"UUURGH! MAKO WAKE UP! THE TOURNAMENT'S STARTED!" Saori yelled as she tried to pull Mako's blanket as hard as she could, but the Anglerfish driver was still as stubborn as always, with her head planted face-first in the pillow, "I'm tired, please just five more minutes" she groaned through the fabric.

And to make it even more hilarious, it wasn't just Saori trying to break her back, Taeko and Oryou were also trying their best to help, but to no avail, "come on Mako get up!" Oryou whined as she continued to tug as hard as she could, "yeah, Sodoko will be mad at you again!" Taeko then added on, "that could be a problem" Mako said, "THEN WAKE UP!" Saori shouted at her, "but it's impossible" Mako continued to push her case, the three girls finally gave up, and let go of the sheet in exhaustion.

At that point Nekota walked past them, "hey Nekota, can you help us here?" Taeko asked her, "what's wrong?" the gamer wanted more clarification, "Mako won't get up" Saori took to explain, Nekota eyed the situation and then smiled, "let me handle this" she told, she cracked her knuckles and then put both her arms under Mako's mattress.

To the massive surprise of the other girls, Nekota quickly lifted the entire thing up above her head and straight into the air, with her roaring from her impressive strength, "GET UP-NYAA!" she shouted above her, Mako who was in shock from the sudden fact she was up in the air rolled out of the sheets and fell off the side of the mattress, Taeko catched her mid-air with her volleyball skills and then let her down on her feet, Mako's expression slowly turned back to its emotionless, tired form, "okay I'm up" she murmured, "damn Nekota how did you do that?" Oryou said perplexed, Nekota put the mattress down again and smirked, "training" she replied, flexing her arm.

"Come on you lot we have to be out at a decent time" Tom called out to all the boys in the male barracks, everyone was doing their thing as they were still trying to wake up fully, Nelson just came out of the bathroom after cleaning his teeth, smiling as always, "come on lads it's commanders orders" he reiterated Tom's words, "I'm trying to bloody get up but I can't with you Englishman yapping' at me" Ronald complained as he pulled himself out of his bed, "you sound like a damn amateur" Jörgen shamed, "oh yeah? How worse have you been off?" Ronald shot back, "I lived up in the frontiers of Lapland, above the arctic circle, where the sun doesn't set for half the year and doesn't rise for the other half, and your here complaining about getting up, not trying to sleep in the first place with the sun beating down on you" the Swede then told, this basically shut Ronald up as he didn't have a counter to that argument.

"Where in Scipio's name are my glasses?" Floriano whined as he patted his hand on the nightstand next to his bed, his eyes scrunched up due to his extreme short-sightedness, he could however hear sniggering, "yes Hugo very funny, now give me the things" he scolded, Hugo, the joker of Lupo team relented and put the glasses in Floriano's palm, he put them on the bridge of his nose and his eyes opened back up fully, the square glasses had the funny side effect of making his eyes look large, due to the thick lenses.

"Are you picking on Floriano again?" Alfonso jumped in, "you seriously like to keep him on edge all the time don't you" Alberico said while putting his peaked cap on his head, Hugo just had his hands up, "everyone in the crew has to be on their toes, especially the driver when in a combat zone" he defended himself, "just because I have short sight and need ridiculous glasses to compensate doesn't give you right to get on my nerves through some pathetic combat excuse" Floriano jeered, "come on guys the day's just started and you're already bickering" Morgan tried to calm down the situation.

At that point however, there was the sound of a trumpet being played in the corridor outside, the girls and boys looked towards the doors as they heard the tune resonating through the entire building.

Saori and Tom opened up the doors in their respected rooms and looked out into the corridor, they both saw Yukari blowing on her instrument, she finished her verse and laid it down, "good morning everyone!" she called out in happiness.

After that entire display, a few minutes later, almost everyone was now in the mess room, currently tucking into the now-heated MRE's which had been provided.

In the strategy room, Miho was busy looking at the map in the table, when a plate of cooked MRE rice and chicken was put in front of her vision by Saori, "oh thanks" Miho quickly turned her head to and thanked her as she grabbed a fork which was also provided, "no problem Miporin, so is this the planning stage then?" Saori responded, "yep" Miho replied looking around the room, Erwin was busy looking at a few extra documents laid on the table, the Student council where discussing a few things, Sodoko was stood at the door, and Tom, Erik and Alfonso were also present.

"So commander, where are we gonna start?" Erwin asked from her side of the table, Miho then went into her thought process, "well, one thing I would like to avoid is contact with any of the other schools, we do start with some resources, but if some of our tanks get knocked out, we possibly may use it all up before the main event has even started, so I want to find a depot which is far away from anyone else" she took to explain, Erwin's eyes skimmed over the map.

"Well there's this town just here, got a depot in the centre and is far away from any other schools, but I'm guessing it may have a presence of Jinzōno tanks though" she then suggested, placing her finger on the town in question, Miho looked at it as well, "yeah that seems like a good starting point, how difficult do you think it would be to fight them if they are present?" Miho then asked, "well, theirs high ground which surrounds the south and east sides of the town, also the streets are rather wide and not too crammed, at least that's not counting the backstreets, there is a small water gully which runs through the entire thing with flat bridges crossing, I don't personally think it would be too hard for us to assault" Erwin voiced her thoughts.

"Ok then, well it seems that's the best target to hit for now, so start making a plan for it which will be executed at noon today" Miho then ordered, "understood" Erwin then acknowledged, and she got to work by pulling out a map sketch of the area and started to draw concepts, Miho then turned her attention to Tom, who was looking out the window towards the tank shelter.

"Well I see they've finally figured it out" he said to himself, the three European tanks had some of their crews painting the Ooarai emblem on the tanks, he saw Nelson and Morgan busy using stencils and cans of spray paint on the side of the FV's turret, Knugen and Jörgen were busy doing the same on the Kranvagn, as well as Alberico and Hugo on the Standard B, Miho came to his side, "yeah they're just busy painting your school's logo on the tanks, just to avoid nasty things like friendly fire" he explained, "yeah, that reminds me of a military law" Miho then mentioned, "yes, Murphy's military law number one: Friendly fire - isn't, I know that because Nelson's very knowledgeable of those rules and always mentions them in the right situation" he continued, Miho hummed in response.

"Also if we have an operation coming up, the tanks should be refuelled and rearmed" he then suggested, Miho lit up to this small oversight, "oh well the Automotive club can busy themselves with the refuelling but where is the ammunition stored?" she then asked confused, "there's an ammo store just around the back of this building, its underground" Sodoko then mentioned, "oh good, you don't mind taking us there?" she inquired, Sodoko waved her hand in a signal for her to follow, with Tom and Anzu coming with her.

They walked around to the side of the main building, which was closer to the resource storage and the fuel tanks, they found two metal hatches in the gravel floor, with a crank also sunk into the floor, Sodoko got on her knees and after lifting the crank up, started to turn it, the main door started to open in two halves, while the smaller one also opening in a single slow motion, with them both open, the larger hatch revealed a metal staircase which went down into a basement, the smaller opening relieved a small hydraulic lift to lift the shells out of the underground.

Miho went down the tight staircase, trying hard not to bang her head on the edge of the hatch, she placed her feet on the concrete floor and hit a switch nearby, the basement lit up showing it was very bland concrete walls void of detail with numerous concrete pillars breaking up the large area, but the area was filled with trolleys, shelves and crates, and all of these crates had different types of ammunition inside, each with respected markings.

Miho caught sight of a clipboard hanging on the wall, with a bunch of information scribbled on it, upon closer inspection she saw it was a list of the shells the guns on their tanks could take...

* * *

Shell Compatibility List:

Type 89B:

57 mm Type 90:

Type 92 APHE (APHE)

Type 3 HEAT (HEAT)

Jagdpanzer 38(t) 'Hetzer':

75 mm PaK 39 L/48:

PzGr 39 (APCBC)

PzGr 40 (APCR)

HlGr. 38B (HEAT)

Sprgr. 34 (HE)

StuG III F:

75 mm StuK 40 L/43:

PzGr 39 (APCBC)

PzGr 40 (APCR)

HlGr. 38B (HEAT)

Sprgr. 34 (HE)

Panzer IV H:

75 mm KwK 40 L/48:

PzGr 39 (APCBC)

PzGr 40 (APCR)

HlGr. 38B (HEAT)

Sprgr. 34 (HE)

Char B1 bis:

47 mm SA35 L/32:

Mle1935 (APC)

Mle1935 HE (HE)

75 mm SA35 L/17:

Mle1910M (APHE)

Mle1915 (HE)

Type 3 Chi-Nu:

75 mm Type 3 L/38:

Type 1 APHE (APHE)

Type 94 HE (HE)

M3 Lee:

37 mm M5:

M74 Shot (AP)

M63 Shot (HE)

M51 Shot (APC)

75 mm M2:

M72 Shot (AP)

M48 Shot (HE)

M62 Shot (APCBC)

Tiger (P):

88 mm KwK 36 L/56:

PzGr 39 (APCBC)

HlGr. 39 (HEAT)

Sprgr. 39 (HE)

FV4005 Stage II:

183 mm QF L4A1:

Shell L1 (HESH)

Kranvagn:

120 mm Kanon L/40:

slpprj m/51Ä (APCR)

sgr m/51 (HE)

Prototipo Standard B:

90 mm Cannone da 90 Rh:

Granata Perforante Mod. 90 M332A1 (APCR)

Granata Effetto Pronto 90 Rh (HEAT-FS)

Granata Schiacciare 90 Rh (HESH)

* * *

"Hey guys" she called back up, "we're gonna need most of the crew from all the tanks loading these shells" she finished her sentence, "I'll get them all" Anzu replied down to her.

Most of the school and European volunteers where now outside reaming the tanks, Miho was back up standing on the surface near the hatch, she was watching 75 mm shells on a trolley being lifted up by the hydraulic lift to the surface, Caesar walked up the steps out of the basement and began to push the trolley over to the StuG III, she also caught sight of Hoshino and Suzuki dragging a long fuel line across the courtyard to the tanks to fill them up with fuel.

Both Morgan and Nelson where struggling with a single yellow-tipped 183 mm HESH round they were both carrying, with the shell weighing seventy kilograms each, it was a hard task for them, with one carrying the shell from either end, as they shuffled along and huffed however, they caught sight of Ronald walking casually along with the same two shells under his arms, with Douglas following behind with two equally large powder casings, Ronald smiled at them as he walked, "yeah just because you sling the things around as a job" Morgan scolded, "what's that? I can't hear you over the sound of these Scottish muscles working" Ronald joked back, "ahh bite me ya div" Morgan snapped as he continued to walk with Nelson, who couldn't help but smile, "interesting things indeed" he chirped as they continued walking together.

Meanwhile, Anteater where loading up their Chi-Nu in their special way, Piyotan was literally chucking up the heavy shells like they were nothing to Nekota, who caught them with precision and handed them down through the cupola to Momoga, with the training they went though, they got results.

Miho had set out that each of the commanders could decide the ratio of their ammo count, the only rule was that there had to be at least one of a certain ammo type in the tank, Elk team with their Kranvagn ran with their standard loadout, thirty-two APCR rounds and eight HE rounds, with the autoloader drums holding four rounds each, the left drum holding the APCR ammunition, and the right one holding the HE rounds, as Erik had mentioned before,

As Jörgen was handing down rounds through the cupola to Erik who was in the turret, at the rear of the vehicle with some rear hatches on the engine deck open, Hoshino and Suzuki where filling the tank up with fuel, as Knugen observed them, "just don't spill any of it into the engine compartment, don't want any bensin sloshing around which could catch fire, basic concept of preventative maintenance" he warned, "yeah, been known to reduce the chance of engine compartment fires by twenty-five percent" Hoshino agreed and then mentioned, "speaking of the engine, what's this thing packing?" Suzuki asked in curiosity, "the engine in this thing is an SFA F12 engine, manufactured by Svenska Flygmotor AB, it could produce 723 horsepower and drive this forty-tonne beast up to sixty kilometres per hour, but that's just what the limiter is on, I've never really got it that high due to resistance and all that" he cared to explain, "and you're the one pulling its strings, right?" Hoshino then asked, "you are correct on that, and I can tell you, it's great fun to drive" Knugen responded to that, "you know what Tsuchiya would say, could you drift it" Suzuki then joked, Knugen rubbed his spiky hair, "well I have been able to get it sideways on a few occasions, but Jörgen always complains as it 'throws his shot off', even though I know personally he's one of the best shot's I've seen, probably because he thinks that drifting a tank is stupid" he told, the two girls chuckled to that small story.

Yukari had finished putting in the last shell into the Panzer IV's ammo rack, "that's the last one" she called up to Hana, who was sat on top of the turret, she turned to Miho, "that's all our ammo racks filled" she carried on, "great, how about the other tanks?" she asked Saori who was also next to her, "looks like most of them are done" she responded, at the FV, Nelson stuck himself out of the open door on the back of the turret, "twelve HESH rounds with the twelve powder charges to go with them, where all loaded up" he called out, Morgan also came out, "but bloody hell those shells are a pain to move around" he wheezed.

All of the crews finished up and came over to Miho, "where all loaded up" Azusa chirped, "we are too" Noriko added on, "good, and are they all fuelled up Hoshino?" Miho then turned her attention to the Leopon team member, "yeah, all full and ready to go" she winked back with a thumbs up, "great! Now you all are excused for now, but you'll be expected to turn up for operation briefing at noon" Miho laid out, "does that mean we have a fight coming up?" Momoga asked in curiosity, "exactly, Erwin is currently working on the plans, let's see what she comes up with" Miho finished.

The briefing room was pretty much just like a large classroom, individual desks with chairs filled the room, all pointing towards a whiteboard with maps stuck to it and lines scribbled on it, one of the chalkboards to the side had a large caption reading 'KNOW YOUR SHELL TYPE' and having a list of multiple shells one could fire out of a gun, such as AP rounds and its derivatives (APC, APBC, APCBC), APHE and its derivatives (APHEC, APHEBC, APHECBC), HEAT and HEAT-FS rounds (aka shaped-charge or hollow-charge rounds) APCR (aka HVAP), Shrapnel shells, HE and HESH rounds, all with small diagrams and information next to each shell type for anyone to study.

Noon came, and the students filed in and sat at a chair each, they could all see Miho, Erwin, Sodoko and the student council standing there at the front.

"Is everyone here?" Miho asked, Sodoko counted off the heads, "yes commander" she confirmed, "good, so we will be performing an assault today on a small town with a supply depot, shouldn't take too much effort" Miho introduced, "will we be fighting any other schools today?" Aya then asked, "we've discussed that, and we all believe that we should avoid any contact with other schools for today, we really can't afford to lose any tanks as we don't start with much resources to replace them" Miho cared to explain, and then got back on track, "anyway, I'll hand it over to Erwin now since she was the one who came up with this plan", Erwin then plastered a map of the town and of the route to reach it on the blackboard and pulled out a meter stick to give points.

"The town is rather small in size, far away from any other home bases so the chances of us running into another school are slim to none, but we are pretty certain there will be a Jinzōno presence, the town from above is square in shape and has a central plaza where the resources are stored, the streets are wide and open but there are tighter back streets, our plan is to come to the town from the south, as there is a ridge there which overlooks the area, we take out any tanks from the outside, and then push slowly into the town, stay alert, move together and keep your eyes open, we will fight into the plaza, grab the resources and then leave, simple".

Miho turned to all the students, "is that understood?" she converse, all of the students silently nodded, "okay, usually pre-battle procedure, get in the tanks, radio check-in, and then we set off in formation, the formation from front to back will be as follows: Mallard, Falcon, Duck, Anglerfish, Elk, Leopon, Turtle, Lupo, Hippo, Anteater and Rabbit".

"You have the orders and the plan, so ladies, and gentlemen, let's move out" Erwin finished, Miho then turned her attention to the Europeans, "so this will be your first battle with us, you sure you're up for it?" she smiled.

"Yes commander!" Tom saluted.

"Ja kommendör!" Erik also saluted.

"Sì comandante!" Alfonso did the same.

The Europeans were ready to show themselves.

Everyone came out of the building and went over to their respected tanks, with students clambering onto the metal and getting into the tanks through the various hatches, the sound of engines starting filled the air as the tanks came to life,

With her crew in their positions and the Panzer IV's engine running smoothly, Miho put her throat microphone on.

"Radio check in" she said over the waves.

"Hippo team standing by!"

"Duck team standing by!"

"Elk team standing by!"

"Rabbit team standing by!"

"Falcon team standing by!"

"Mallard team standing by!"

"Leopon team standing by!"

"Turtle team standing by!"

"Lupo team standing by!"

"Anteater team standing by!"

"Good, remember to stick in formation, drive to the target via the route we described, and initiate the plan, communication between vehicles must be in English, but internal vehicle communications can be in a preferred language, everyone ready?"

"Yes commander!"

"Great, Panzer vor!"

And with that, all the tanks drove out into the courtyard one by one and set off out of the compound and onto the dirt road.

The first Ooarai operation was underway.

* * *

Shell Jargon (in case anyone is confused to what the acronyms mean).

AP = Armour Piercing

APC = Armour Piercing Capped

APBC = Armour Piercing Ballistic Capped

APCBC = Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped

APHE = Armour Piercing High Explosive

APHEC = Armour Piercing High Explosive Capped

APHEBC = Armour Piercing High Explosive Ballistic Capped

APHECBC = Armour Piercing High Explosive Capped Ballistic Capped

APCR/HVAP = Armour Piercing Composite Rigid / High Velocity Armour Piercing

HE = High Explosive

HESH = High Explosive Squash Head

HEAT = High Explosive Anti-Tank

HEAT-FS = High Explosive Anti-Tank Fin Stabilized

* * *

Translations

Bensin = Petrol/Gasoline (Swedish)

Ja kommendör! = Yes commander! (Swedish)

Sì comandante! = Yes commander! (Italian)


	8. 彼らの最初の行動 - Their First Action

**So finally, the first fight chapter is here, now I have some things I need to get out of the way first**

 **Firstly, why was this part delayed? Well mainly because of three things, writers block, needing some time to think this chapter through, and war thunder operation S.U.M.M.E.R grinding (and I did get the IS-7 in the end btw).**

 **Secondly, speaking of war thunder and for any players of that game, I also created some skins depicted in this story in the game, you can go onto the camouflage section and search by the hashtag #mann_und_grosskampf, and you will see any of these I create.**

 **And finally, thirdly I kinda need some help, I have some foreign voice lines from both war thunder and world of tanks which need translating, so if your fluent in the Czech, Serbian and Hungarian languages and don't mind doing some translations, please let me know via private messages on FanFiction.**

 **And now the reviews:**

 **1: I wonded in future chapters that Miho will get mad at Katrina for going too far and that Miho decides to show her dark side to completely destroy and defeat Katrina's team to teach her a lesson...**

 **Also nice chapter**

 **don't worry, her time will come :-), and thanks for the praise!**

 **2: Also I've noticed that there are barely any French Cold War Tanks true you mention the AMX 13 75 but I known what would awesome the Kranvagn vs the AMX 50 120B plus the T57 Heavy Tank it would the battle of the Heavy Auto Loaders that would be epic**

 **But still keep up the good work see you sone**

 **I sadly don't have plans to add in the T57 heavy, the AMX 13 17, well keep your eyes out :-), and the AMX 50 B (or its more correct official designation AMX 50 Surbaissé) I have plans for in another story (oh I wonder what can that mean?), and thanks for the praise again!**

 **3:Now there rolling out**

 **Plus can't wait for the side chapter it's gonna be epic will that be out after the next chapter or when the they win the tournament.**

 **That side-chapter will be happening somewhere in the middle of the tournament, but I ain't going to spoil much for now, (but it will involve some shenanigans with one of the judges)**

 **4: Nice chapter but i must make a cofesion i was because of your croatian characters being dicks i was rooting for france on the world cup finals...**

 **Heh, I can confess to that as well, since they beat us Englishmen so close to the end.**

 **And with that, here comes the chapter…**

* * *

 **彼らの最初の行動** **\- Their First Action (Ooarai vs. Jinzōno )**

Tom was taking the time to drive to the destination to relax a bit, to the best he could in his seat in the FV4005's turret, being in the front left with a periscope in the roof and a machine gun in the front.

Directly to his right was the large and bulky gun breach of the 183 mm gun, and on the right hand side of that was the gunner's position, where Nelson was sat at, with the turret and elevation controls in front of him, as well as the optics for the gun, he was also busy putting on his pair of dark red leather gloves, above him mounted on the wall was a warning sign,

"WARNING! SHOTS FIRED FROM 45 DEGREES OR MORE FROM CENTRELINE TO THE PORT OR STARBOARD SIDE MAY RISK OVERTURNING THE VEHICLE"

behind them at the rear of the turret where the storages for the shells and the brass casings containing the gunpowder which propelled the shells out the gun, Ronald and Douglas were also positioned here, with a small loading ramp for the breach folded out of the way, and in the front of the hull was the drivers position, where Morgan was currently stationed, driving the tank.

In the Kranvagn, the conditions where a bit more tight, Knugen was in the front of the tank at the driver position, the turret had Erik, who was now wearing a green Swedish tanker helmet on his head, on the right hand side with a linked turret control to his front and the cupola above him, Jörgen was on the left, with a smaller cupola above him and the gun optics in front, plus controls, in between them was the 120 mm gun breech with the loading ramp and ramming system behind it, going into the rear of the turret where the two ammo drums where located, just in front of the two turret crew where two ready racks with four shells each, to speed up loading when the drum on the respected side was empty, with the main ammo racks below the turret in the hull.

But it was even more tighter in the Standard B, Floriano was okay in the front-right part of the hull at the drivers position, with a large ammo rack next to him on his left, but the turret was different, the 90 mm gun and its breech, loading ramp and rammer taking up the middle of the turret, below that was the automatic magazine for the gun holding two additional rounds, attached to the bottom of the turret basket, Alfonso sat off to the right, with the commander's cupola above him in the low roof and the radios to his rear, Hugo was at the front left side of the turret, with the gun controls and optics at his disposal, just behind him, sitting at the rear of the turret was Alberico, with ammo racks next to him in the turret.

Meanwhile there was a bit of a discussion going on inside Hippo's StuG III, mostly created out of boredom of the journey, and it was mostly civilised,

Well, if you consider Oryou's teasing of Erwin civilised.

"You so have a crush on Salvatore, you two have shown it since day one" she continued to point out, while still having her eyes on the road ahead, "I told you I don't have a crush on him, he just acted like some slick teenager on me, also Tom did say he was a womanizer at one point" Erwin countered that argument, Caesar smirked, "I think you're getting popular Erwin" she said smugly, "says you, I saw you talking rather deeply to Alberico in the mess hall this morning" Saemonza then revealed, "come on I just asked for a spoon" Caesar objected, "you were talking to him for a full five minutes, and you were talking to him in Italian as well" Saemonza continued, Caesar was trying hard to keep the blush of embossment off her face, "yeah! Also, may I say that those words are coming from the one who was eyeing up the Swedish gunner because of rumours he's also good at archery" she panicked slightly, "who? Jörgen?" Oryou questioned, "yeah him" Caesar confirmed, "pfff no I don't" Saemonza blew a raspberry and waved it off, Erwin after all of that did a small facepalm.

"First day of the tournament and everyone's already throwing romance accusations around" she sighed in her head, rubbing her eyes.

The Ooarai task force was now nearing the hill which had been specified in the plan, being a very gradual slope on the side they were facing, all the tanks turned off the dirt road one by one and started to make a path to the crescent.

"All tanks change to line-abreast formation" Miho ordered across the radio, on que, all the tanks broke out of the line and changed to the new formation, keeping their order left to right, after some more driving they finally reached the crest.

"All tanks halt" Miho then said, and all the tanks came to a stop in the grass at the crest, Miho stuck herself out of the cupola and surveyed the area with her binoculars.

The town was now just in front of them, the rows of buildings forming the outer bounds, she could also see a few openings in between the buildings as streets went from the outer perimeter into the town itself.

One thing however caught her eye, she could see a T-26 driving slowly on the perimeter road, it was still acting normally, suggesting it hadn't seen them yet, "tank sighted at one o'clock, against the buildings" she called out over the waves, "hey Nishizumi-dono" Yukari then asked, Miho looked down to her, "can you have one of the European tanks shoot at it please, I want to see them in action" the fluffy chirped, "well who do you want to take the first shot?" Hana then questioned, "what about Falcon team, I think everyone wants to see that huge gun fire" Yukari suggested, "isn't that a bit overkill for the tank ahead?" Mako mentioned, "yeah I know, but that huge gun though" Yukari whined a bit in return, looking restless in excitement, "you know what" Miho then said with a smile, she turned back to her radio, "Falcon team, you have permission to engage and take out that tank" she approved with confidence, "roger that" Tom replied.

And so began the procedure for Falcon team, step one, find the target,

"Target is at ten degrees to starboard gunner" Tom said as he looked through his periscope, Nelson slewed the gun until he had the small tank in his sights.

Step two, range the target.

Using the rangefinder built into the sight, he ranged the target, "target ranged at 300 yards" he called out, setting the gun to the correct elevation, "ready to fire" he confirmed.

Step three, wait for the order, which didn't take long.

"Send it!" Tom immediately ordered, with Morgan, Ronald and Douglas bracing themselves.

And finally step four, pull the trigger and hold on for dear life.

"Posting!" Nelson replied and pulled the trigger on the huge gun.

The shot at first sounded like a large clunking noise, but this gave away to the very loud bang which filled the air, the flash coming out of the barrel was blinding which was followed by the round leaving the gun and the smoke which billowed out, the recoil was just as dramatic, the whole vehicle with its crew shook backwards like it had been punched by a giant, the recoil was that heavy, the entire vehicle skidded back in the grass by about a meter.

The large round flew through the air and hit its mark, slamming into the side of the T-26, the entire tank was blown off the road and into the buildings, thrown aside like some little army toy, the tank came to rest on its side in the rubble, its hull burnt and buckled in on the right side where it was hit and a white flag popped out the turret.

All of the Ooarai girls where speechless after watching the display of the FV's power, "damn I would not want to be on the wrong side of that gun" Noriko said to herself, with her head out of the Type 89B's cupola.

Ronald yanked back on a large lever on the right side of the breach, the breach block opened and the large spent brass case was ejected, Douglas folded down the loading ramp and the two loaders got to work, "and now we wait for the loaders to do their job…" Nelson quipped, and then hummed a bit, "...does anyone know any jokes?" he then asked.

"Uhhh okay" Miho was still getting over the shock of that display, "all tanks move up into the town, move slowly and cautiously, watch out for surprises" she continued over the radio, all the tanks began to move down the hill, coming up to the perimeter buildings, with some of the weaker tanks hanging back, Miho continued to keep atop the situation, "we need to preserve our tanks, we can't afford to…" she began to think to herself.

"Two targets sighted! Light and heavy tank at eleven o'clock, in the street!" Noriko's voice suddenly came over the waves, Miho looked up to see a Hotchkiss H-35 and a Type 95 come out from around the corner, with their guns facing and hulls angled, Rabbit team immediately stopped so they could get a steady shot at the H-35, "both gunners aim at that light tank!" Azusa ordered, being at a standstill gave Aya and Ayumi a clean shot.

"Fire!" Azusa ordered and both gunners took their shots, the 37 mm hitting the front plate of the Hotchkiss and glancing off, but the 75 mm hit and penetrated its side, the tank blew up in a cloud of black smoke and a flag popped out of its turret, "target destroyed!" Azusa confirmed to her crew.

The Type 95 had turned its duel turrets to face them, both of its guns fired at Turtle team, the shells hitting and bouncing off their angled front plate, the resonance of the shells hitting their tank being amplified in the crew compartment, "shoot back at them president!" Momo panicked slightly, Anzu aimed the gun and fired off her shot, hitting and disabling the Type 95's front turret, but the main turret was still operational, Momo quickly threw her ready round into the Hetzer's breach with the metallic clang of the breach block confirming her action, Anzu took aim again and fired this time into the side of the hull, the shell penetrated effortlessly and the Type 95's gun drooped, and a white flag came out of its turret, "nice! That tanks down" Yuzu confirmed the kill.

"Both targets are gone, good work, now move into the town" Miho congratulated, "we'll take point" Erwin replied, and her StuG III was already moving ahead of everyone, "you sure about that?" Miho questioned that action, "don't worry, someone has to do it right?" her co-commander calmed.

The StuG travelled a bit up the wide road, they saw just ahead a small bridge which jumped across a small water filled channel, "keep going up to the bridge" Erwin ordered her driver, as they continued to drive, she looked through her periscope and saw nothing ahead, she then turned to the left and saw a sight which made her blood run cold.

On the other side of the channel was the Neubaufahrzeug, with its dual guns looking straight at them, "Oryou stop!" Erwin shouted down to her driver, Oryou slammed on the brakes, just as they were slowing down the Neubaufahrzeug fired its guns, the rounds flying towards and then hitting the StuG just behind the left drive wheel.

The loud sound of shearing metal filled the crew compartment as the shells did their damage, smoke came into the compartment and the radio let out a loud whine as it was damaged, Erwin immediately slammed her fist on it to shut it up as she got her bearings again, "urgh! I think we just got hit!" Caesar cried out, "are we still in?" Saemonza asked, under the Japanese rules that sort of shot would've knocked them out there and then, but the European rules where more forgiving on them, the shells had only damaged the front of the tank and had only done some damaged the crew compartment as a result, they were still in the game.

"Where still in, but there's a heavy tank to our left, Oryou get us back!" Erwin shouted out an order, but she got no response, "Oryou?" she said again, Saemonza looked forward of her position in the tank and saw Oryou slumped over the controls, out cold.

"Erwin, she's knocked out!" Saemonza warned, a realisation then dawned upon Erwin "oh yeah, shells can knock out crew members under these new rules" she reminded herself in her mind, "do we have a revival salt capsule?" she asked, Caesar picked up the small medical kit in the tank and fumbled through it, but couldn't find the small capsule she was looking for, "damn I must've forgot to pack it in the medical case" she grimaced, "okay, Caesar, take her place, I'll load the gun for Saemonza" Erwin ordered, "sure thing commander" Caesar followed.

"Hippo's in trouble! A heavy tank just came out and shot at them" Miho heard Nakajima over the radio, who had witnessed everything, she looked around and saw Anteater near a building not too far from Hippo, "Anteater! Move up and cover the StuG, they need fire from you" Miho then ordered, "roger that commander-nyaa!" Nekota responded.

The Chi-Nu moved up next to the StuG, putting itself between it and the Neubaufahrzeug, the heavy tank then turning its attention to Anteater as Piyotan bared her gun on the enemy, "ready to fire-piyo!" she called out to her commander, "fire-nyaa!" Nekota shouted back, the Chi-Nu's gun shot out a projectile which hit the Neubaufahrzeug in its small front machine gun turret, disabling it, but the tank itself was still fully operational, and it was now even more eager to destroy them.

This action however had bought Hippo team well needed time, Caesar after moving Oryou's unconscious body to her former loader position had taken up the driver's seat, she struggled with the gear shift as the transmission crunched badly, "urgh! It's hard to get it in gear, I think that shot damage the transmission!" she hollered, she managed to shift into reverse and slammed on the accelerator, the StuG rolled back and Anteater did the same, both tanks moving back into cover with a building breaking sight between them and the AI controlled heavy tank, Erwin continued to have problems with the radio, "come on you stupid piece of Telefunken garbage!" she scowled at its refusal to work, while twisting the dials in despair.

What the Neubaufahrzeug hadn't realized, was that Elk team had gone down an extra block and had come around the heavy tank and out from behind another corner, the Kranvagn had a clear shot at the Neubaufahrzeug's side, and it had a full magazine of four rounds.

"Fri eldgivning!" Erik called to his gunner, giving him permission to freely shoot the enemy, Jörgen did his job and centred the Neubaufahrzeug in his crosshair and pulled the trigger.

The Kranvagn's gun fired in a loud bang and a puff of smoke, the APCR round whizzing through the air at hyper-velocities and striking the Neubaufahrzeug in the turret ring, sparks flew as the round went into the armour with a lot of force.

"Fienden träffad!" Erik confirmed the hit, the shell had been automatically ejected by the breach after the shot, there was then the whirring of the drum behind Jörgen as it rotated, a round fell out the side and onto the loading ramp in between the two drums, then there was the sound of squealing as the automatic rammer moved forward, pushing the round along the loading ramp and into the breach, the clang of the breach block automatically slamming shut sounded that gun was loaded again, all in the space of three seconds.

Jörgen aimed and fired the gun again, this time hitting the enemy in its drive wheel, with the shell punching straight through and destroying the transmission in the process.

"Träff! God verkan!" Erik again confirmed the hit and the autoloader did its job again, loading a new round into the chamber.

Jörgen this time aimed further back and fired, the shell hit the engine of the Neubaufahrzeug and silenced it, a plume of steam erupting from the engine compartment as the engine block was holed.

"Bra skada!" Erik cheered to that shot, the autoloader did its thing again, driving the last round into the breach, a buzzer sounding indicating the drum behind was empty.

The final round was fired and it hit centre mass on the Neubaufahrzeug, finally finishing it, after the cloud of black smoke cleared from the wreck, a white flag popped out of the main turret, "Målet nerkämpat" Erik confirmed the kill as he took control of the turret, Jörgen proceeded to take rounds out of his ready rack and begin to reload the drum behind him.

Miho upon witnessing the Neubaufahrzeug's destruction then heard a feedback tone come across the waves, "this is Hippo team, just managed to fix this radio, but we have a damaged transmission and our driver is unconscious" Erwin's voice came after the tone dissipated, "okay, keep back as we push forward, Mallard take point, you have armour" Miho then directed in response, "yes commander" Sodoko understood the order.

As they regrouped to start moving again, the town had now gone eerily quiet, but Miho knew they couldn't let their guard down, the Jinzōno may have intelligence made of one's and zero's, but that didn't make them dumb by any stretch of the imagination, now that the entire town had been ravaged by the sound of combat, any more of those tanks must now be on high alert.

The group crossed over the bridge and started to drive deeper into the town, the street was now curving between the buildings and there was no clear sight to the centre, some of the commanders had their heads out of their cupolas to get better views, in the B1, Sodoko kept looking through her periscope on all angles, looking into every side street and alley way they went by.

She looked down another alley and it seemed normal at first, a bunch of trash cans piled up, but as she looked closer, something was poking out of the pile, it was a gun barrel, the gun barrel of the T-60.

"Hey! Tank to the left!" she shouted as the T-60 then opened up with its 20 mm TNSh autocannon, the shells hitting and bouncing off in a chatter on the B1's side as Moyoko desperately turned the tank towards the threat, Sodoko slewed the turret around and aimed at the front of the T-60, she fired the gun and the 47 mm shell went straight through, knocking out the T-60 and silencing its autocannon.

After that display, the group continued, until they finally reached the open square centre of the town, the main plaza was actually sunken down into the ground, being surrounded by a higher perimeter with steps connecting both levels all the way around, market stalls and other pieces of park furniture filled the inner and outer plaza, with a fountain being the centre point, but what had everyone's attention, was the crates which were packed on trailers which could be attached to the back of a tank, it was the industrial resource they needed, and all they needed to do was attach it to their tanks and get it back to base, simple.

But simple and easy are two different concepts entirely.

The final line of Jinzōno tanks was in their way, in the depression was the T-35 and to the left and right on the upper levels was the Strv m/31 and Panzer II respectively, all with their guns facing them.

As the shells started to fly, the entirety of Ooarai broke up and took positions in the upper plaza, some of the tanks trying their hardest not to get hit, the T-35 was aiming centre mass at any target it saw while its two smaller auxiliary turrets where mostly aiming at their tracks, the m/31 and the Panzer II trying to provide support from afar, Leopon team turned their attention to the Panzer II and got it in their sights, the m/31 then fired a shot at them, but the shell just exploded on their gun mantlet, doing no damage, Hoshino with the tank in her sights fired the gun, the shell hitting and ripping through the Panzer's front plate, knocking it right out, "he's gone nice shot!" Nakajima confirmed as Suzuki loaded a new round into the breach, "shell up!" she confirmed her action, they drove forwards so they could get a shot at the m/31, but this exposed their tracks, and the T-35 took advantage of this.

The smaller auxiliary turret fired and hit Leopon in the front left drive wheel, shearing the track in two, the Porsche Tiger ground to a halt, "our tred's been blown off we can't move!" Tsuchiya yelled up to Nakajima in panic, Nakajima grimaced to the situation, "we can still turn, get our armour facing them" she then ordered, Tsuchiya using the still good track on the Porsche Tiger, managed to pivot the tank on its broken track until it faced the T-35.

Miho decided to turn her attention to the m/31, but as she did, she then noticed Lupo team driving across straight towards it, Hugo in the turret fired off a shot at the target but a bump in the road made him miss by a hair, the shell almost scraping the m/31's side.

"Hana, the m/31, take it out!" she ordered her gunner, "right" Hana calmly replied as she slewed the turret to face the target, she corrected her aim and then fired, the shell hitting the m/31 in the turret, knocking it out with a plumb of black smoke and a white flag coming out of said turret, "thanks comandante" she heard Alfonso over the radio.

Alberico had just shoved his ready round into the magazine, the beauty of it compared to other systems was that rounds could be fed constantly into the magazine as the rounds where being used up by the gun, after a short while, the new round clicked in the magazine ready to be used, the issue with this system however was that if a round was fired while a new round was being loaded, the process of the new round being loaded would be interrupted and start all over, probably implemented to make sure the magazine didn't jam in such cases.

With three rounds at the ready, Hugo slewed the turret to the right to face the T-35, which had been taking fire from most of Ooarai, while still moving he fired a shot which hit it right in its front machine gun turret, the shell disabling it and doing some internal damage, "preso!" Alfonso confirmed the shot as the autoloader threw another round into the chamber, "svuota il caricatore!" Hugo shouted behind him, which made Alberico refrain from loading in more rounds, Hugo aimed again and fired, the round traveling and hitting the T-35 just under the main turret, the round did its damage and the tank looked like it was on its last legs with smoke coming out of various parts of the hull, "sì! Colpito!" Alfonso cheered to the hit.

But the T-35 wasn't going down that easily.

The rear auxiliary turret aimed at Lupo team and fired its shot, despite moving at full speed, the Standard B was hit in its right track, breaking it and throwing the tank into a forced turn, when it came to rest, the tank was now pointing directly at the T-35.

"Il cingolo è stato distrutto, non possiamo muoverci!" Floriano shouted up as the tank refused to move, Hugo spun the turret to face back on target, the T-35 had also turned its main turret to face them, but Lupo had one shot left.

The Standard B fired the final shot into the T-35's turret ring, the tank exploded in a cloud of black smoke to the critical hit, once it cleared, the tank was truly out for the count, the main turret had lifted off its turret ring slightly and a white flag was present poking out of the top.

"Il nemico, è stato distrutto" Alfonso confirmed the kill.

Everything was now silent, no more Jinzōno tanks where appearing anymore, "I think that may be all of them" Miho said to her crew, "any more contacts?" Saori asked over the waves, "nothing!" Noriko replied, "we can't see anyone else" Anzu also called in, "nah mates, where clear" Tom resounded.

"Any more tanks damaged?" Miho proceeded to check, "we have a broken track, need some time to fix it" Nakajima responded, "one of our tracks are also broken, need time to repair comandante" Alfonso came in, "okay, Mallard, Falcon and Anteater will deal with the resources, if your tanks damaged, fix it up, but I want Elk, Duck and Rabbit teams holding a perimeter in case of counter-attacks" Miho set out the plan, "yes commander!" they all replied.

Ronald with his strength finished hooking the trailer onto the back of the FV, the bucket which was mounted on the back of the chassis was a bit problematic to work around, but he managed it in the end, the other trailers had also been hooked up to the back of the B1 and Chi-Nu.

Miho who was standing with a few others near her Panzer IV looked around and saw Hoshino, Suzuki and Tsuchiya working on the broken track on the Porsche Tiger with jacks and crowbars, she turned in the other direction and saw Lupo team doing the same work on their Standard B.

"So, you think you took transmission damage?" Nakajima said to Erwin who were both having a conversation next to the StuG III, "pretty much, Caesar was complaining that the gears where grindy, and when we were driving it sounded like a bag of bolts" Erwin explained, Nakajima bent down and got a good at the damaged area behind the drive wheel, she gave a small whistle to the sight, "well, doesn't look too bad, I think we can get that fixed up in no-time back at base" she pointed out, "at least we didn't have to do battle damage repair to it, it kept working in that situation" Erwin continued to converse, in the small time between them knowing the tournament was coming and them going into it, all the crews had been trained by Leopon in the art of battle damage repair, so they could repair any components on their tanks in battle, of course not to the best extent the automotive club could do themselves, but it would help to get them out of any jam in battle.

Then Erwin heard some groaning in the tank, she and Nakajima turned to see a now awake Oryou stick herself out of the hatch, "you okay?" Erwin asked her, "I think so, damn how long was I knocked out for?" she replied and then questioned, "for the entire match" her commander replied, "I guess you couldn't revive me or something?" Oryou pouted slightly, a bit disappointed that she missed most of the action, "yeah, Caesar forgot to bring the revival salts, sorry" Erwin apologised.

After some time, Leopon and Lupo teams had finished repairing the tracks on their tanks, now Ooarai where ready to start moving again, Miho after finishing some talks with other teams got back into her Panzer IV via the cupola, she sat back down and looked at Yukari and Hana, "guys, I think that's a wrap for this operation" she said with confidence, "that first fight was so awesome! Especially with those Europeans, I just loved seeing their tanks in action" the fluffy bubbled, "yeah, I do think those cute boys proved their skills to us" Saori added on looking excited, Miho smiled to that, "I can agree with that Saori, now tell everyone where going to be moving back to base" she agreed and then ordered.

Soon, everyone had gotten themselves ready again, "I want us to leave the town in a similar formation as before, but I want the resource carriers in the centre of the group, understood?" Miho set out.

"Yes commander-nyaa" Nekota intoned.

"Yes commander" Sodoko flatly nodded.

"Gotcha commander" Tom replied.

"Panzer vor!" Miho boasted, and all the tanks started their journey back out of the town, coming out the same way they fought in, going past the smoking wreaks and across the bridge, soon, all the tanks emerged from the outer buildings and drove across the ridge and field back onto a dirt road.

In the StuG, Erwin was already doing one of the duties as vice-commander, with a small clipboard in hand she was writing down a post-battle report.

"Well what did we learn from this battle vice-commander?" Saemonza asked behind her, "well firstly, Jinzōno ain't as stupid as we first thought, secondly, those Europeans sure know how to fight, and thirdly" she then turned to her crew, "I was a bit reckless, I shouldn't have pushed us forwards into that Neubaufahrzeug" she shamed herself, "ehh, don't worry about it, I think everyone's still trying to get used to this new tournament and fighting format" Caesar reassured her, "and it was amazing seeing that FV in action, I mean, did you just see what that shell did to that T-26? It was nuts" Saemonza touched on the FV4005's power, "I would bet everyone who looks down the barrel of that thing would get a heart attack" Oryou theorised, "yeah, I wonder what the other schools would do if they were on the wrong end of the stick" Caesar questioned, Erwin thought about it for a second,

"Well I would bet it would wipe any smirk off Erika's face, and maybe add all of Kuromorimine to that as well, Chi-Ha-Tan wouldn't dare charge at it knowing they would be made a streak on the ground if they were hit, Katyusha also would probably be scared to attack it herself, Saunders wouldn't attack head on, Anzio would attack head on, hell I would go out and say even the Bermuda Trio and All-Stars wouldn't be stupid enough or have the guts to do their fancy attacks knowing that gun is looking right at them, pretty much the power of fear factor" she voiced her thoughts, "what about the Swedes?" Saemonza asked, "well they completely decimated that Neubaufahrzeug with their autoloader, but I didn't see them doing much after that, probably because they were still loading their magazine, still, they're firepower will come in useful in the future when taking on multiple enemies" Erwin answered that thought.

"But I'm still very interested in the Italian's, the speed they attacked with and their quick manoeuvres were very reminiscent of how the Italian's fought in the deserts of North Africa, alongside my namesake may I add" the vice-commander then continued, the other girls then sniggered slightly, "what?" Erwin said confused, "so you basically just confessed your interest in Alfonso haven't you" Caesar pointed out, "told ya she had something for him" Saemonza chuckled, "wha!? You all still going on about that? I said before, there is nothing between me and him okay" Erwin gasped with her face now turning red from embarrassment, "yeah yeah, even though you just said the opposite yourself" Oryou teased.

And at that point, the atmosphere in the StuG went back to the same argument before the battle, as it continued to escort the supplies back to Ooarai's base.

* * *

Translations

Fri eldgivning = Fire at will (Swedish)

Fienden träffad = Enemy hit (Swedish)

Träff, God verkan = Hit, Good effect (Swedish)

Bra skada = Good damage (Swedish)

Målet nerkämpat = Target destroyed (Swedish)

Preso = Hit/Smitten (Italian)

Svuota il caricatore = Emptying the magazine (Italian)

Sì! Colpito! = Yes! Hit it! (Italian)

Il cingolo è stato distrutto, non possiamo muoverci = the track has been destroyed, we can't move (Italian)

Il nemico, è stato distrutto = the enemy has been destroyed (Italian)


	9. もっと個人的なもの - More personal things

**Well hey guys, eheheh...**

 **Okay, I will admit this chapter took WAY longer than I expected, mostly because I needed time to think it out, procrastination and the fact I'm back at College, another big reason is that I've gone back through my story and fixed parts of it, among the changes where:**

 **\- Fixed multiple grammar and spelling mistakes (some may have slipped through, please let me know via PM if you find any)**

 **\- Fixed any potholes**

 **\- Katarina is now a full six foot tall (due to OCD)**

 **\- Added a few more sentences to be more descriptive**

 **-DST is now know as** ** _Degman Škola Tankista_ and MTF is now known as _Magyar Tank Főiskola_ due to corrected translations**

 **Another piece of news I want to bring up, is that because I may have less time to write, I have been thinking of starting up a Discord server, to create a place for the information of this project to collect, and also to let people come together and talk about this and GuP stuff, and for me to put up anything interesting, I have a poll up on my homepage, aye for yes and nay for no, I will count it and announce the result when the next chapter comes out (which may be in a week or two... hopefully), also I have a second poll which allows you to vote for your favorite OC.**

 **And finally, when it comes to Translators, I have a hold of a Czech and Hungarian translator, and in the process of getting a Serbo-Croatian translator, I am still looking for a Romanian, Swedish and Italian translator, If you are fluent in those languages and want to help the project, please PM me.**

 **With that all taken care of, now its time for the reviews...**

 **1:You should give Pravda an IS-7. Anyways, good chapter and I can't wait for the next one.**

 **I was actually thinking of giving them that tank, but then after discussing it with someone, I changed my mind and decided to give them three smaller ones, but also all the others schools will be getting new toys, especially St. Gloriana and Chi-Ha-Tan will be getting a few crazy ones :-)**

 **2:Will you feature any other DST-NTC, and if will they be more normal than the looneys at chagre?**

 **Probably not, Katarina and Vlatko where really the only main characters for DST-NTC, most of the smaller students will be like them, cheering their 'Imperial Crushing' ways, but their will be some of them who do believe in fair play, one or two of them will show themselves at some point.**

 **3:Kranvagn is best tank beachside SWEDEN Is best. Excellent chapter as always**

 **Thanks, and the Kranvagn has showed its ability to lift :-)**

 **4:Great chapter can't wait for more of these battles and FV005 blow them out them away that and the the t 26.**

 **Also can't wait for the side chapter it's gonna be hilarious plus I wanna see Maho and Erika's face when they face FV005 plus it might give Tom some revenge from Kuromorimine for what Shino and Maho have put him though plus the boys will tease him thinking that Miho is his girlfriend and the girls will act jealous even though she denies it.**

 **Nice to see you liked the FV4005 in action, and Kuromorimine will defiantly be unnerved by its gun (that's the power of fear-factor after all), the teasing and embarrassment part will affect the boys and girls in this story who slowly start to drift together, but I'm saving the biggest lump for later :-)**

 **And now with that concluded, here's the chapter, enjoy**

* * *

 **もっと個人的なもの - More personal things**

The bathhouse was a nice addition to Ooarai's base, the light-yellow tiled walls surrounded the large square shaped pool full of steamy water, Anglerfish after the battle they had where now soaking up the moisture as they bathed in the water.

The main difference being that they were in swimwear, and also Falcon team had joined them.

"Isn't it kinda awkward you boys are here bathing with us?" Yukari questioned, with her and Anglerfish against one of the walls of the bath and Falcon against the other perpendicular wall to their left, with them all wearing swimming trunks, but also Nelson and Douglas where wearing white shirts which where waterlogged.

"Ehh, we have swimming pools back at Bovington, and they're used by both genders anyways, so for us it isn't awkward" Morgan told them, "well it would be nice to use this time to get to know you Europeans even better" Hana then gently mentioned, "aye lassie, it would be great to tell you all about our history, it's a good thing ain't it?" Ronald responded joyfully, but the girls were confused by his vocabulary, "sorry if I'm sounding rude but what's a lassie?" Saori questioned, "Scottish slang for a girl Miss Takebe" Nelson cared to explain.

"So you all did say you were from a school called Bovington right?" Miho asked, "yes, Bovington Tankery Sandhurst, founded originally in 1917 to train new army recruits on the new 'Mother' tanks during the great war" Tom told, "so tankery has been around in Europe for a long time hasn't it?" Saori questioned, "yes it has, well it was basically invented by us Brits along with the tank" Tom continued, "so why haven't we heard much about Tankery in your continent then?, that's what I'm struggling to figure out" Saori wondered, Tom turned to Nelson, who had a better knowledge of the history of Tankery in Europe.

"Well for a few reasons, firstly, Tankery, or Panzerkraft, or Sensha-dō, whatever you wish to call it, had a poor time trying to get itself to the masses, it wasn't seen as much of a school curricula worthy sport, but really a leisurely pursuit for the ones who could privately afford it, until the schools on a lower level were finally able to start teaching it, secondly, Europe had been in the grips of two world wars and after that, the iron curtain which had split the continent down the middle with capitalism on the west side, and communism on the east side, people didn't want some students running around near the border like some brown bear near a military base and almost starting a nuclear winter by accident… and I'm not even joking about the bear that literally happened once, and thirdly, there was quite a bit of anti-war sentiment surrounding tankery, it tried to stay as a feminine sport, like over here in Japan, but nobody was really rushing to take up tankery."

"The European Economic Community (the predecessor to the European Union) had founded the ETA in the 1960's to try and bring some regulation and promotion to tankery in western Europe, in the east, the Warsaw pact had formed the Kommissar's Committee of Tankery Education, or KCTE to bring along the same promotion and regulation among the eastern bloc schools, the ETA had Bovington, Gotland, Campania and a few others under their authority while the KCTE had at the time, with a few other schools, Žatec-Pilsen, MTF and the Yugoslav Armour Academy, or Jugoslavenska Akademija Oklopa, or JAO under their grasp, all of us had our own school ships and respected cultures on those ships".

"So what happened after all this?" Saori wondered, Nelson continued with his answer, "well the first major event was in the early 1980's where our good old friend Thorvald Sigmund Emil pushed forward his changes to tankery in the ETA, the three main points being that firstly, tankery should be made a full school curriculum which was available to any student, secondly, a strong funding source should be used to back the entire thing, to promote broadcasts, merchandise, repairs to the environment and structures, for schools to buy and maintain tanks, that sort of thing, which the ETA in the end would be the governing body to provide all the funds, all to try and bring the knowledge and means of the sport to the masses, and finally, boys would be allowed to participate, the entire feminine sport thing just wasn't working in Europe, although this would be dependent on if the school was all-girls, all-boys or a mixed bag, the changes came into effect quickly in the ETA, and the KCTE also accepted the proposals when Emil offered them across the curtain".

"In the 1990's, well communism came down in Europe, the KCTE soon became defunct as it had lost all its backing, and the ETA came in and absorbed it into the association, also the Yugoslav wars happened, and this soon brought an end to the JAO, which split into the two schools we know today, DST and NTC, the former for Croatia and the latter for Serbia, after Romania overthrew its communist government, one of the first agendas of the new government was to form a tankery school, which would later go on to become SCARLAT".

"So when did all the tournaments start happening?" Miho asked, "just recently actually, they started around two years ago, before that, any fight which happened between two schools was basically an un-official exhibition match, as the ETA neglected to hold any tournaments themselves, it was known as the Pan-Europa academic tankery championship, there's been two so far, the first was won by a German team, and when the second came along, we were forced to participate in it" Nelson mentioned.

"Why were you forced?" Hana said curiously, "you all know the Bovington museum?" Morgan questioned, "oh! oh! yeah I do, I've been there when I was little" Yukari chirped, "well that museum was going to be closed down due to lack of funding from the higher-ups" Tom lamented, "what? They couldn't close it down! It had so many unique vehicles" Yukari blubbered at the sudden realization.

"It was going to shut down, but the manager had the bright idea of signing us up for the tournament, I at first had my doubts, as Bovington didn't even have a physical tankery team at the time, choosing to teach the sport through paper exams as it was cheaper, making people on the outside refer to us as a 'tankery school in name only', but we scraped together any tanks which could be used and we participated, and through teamwork, we went through four hard battles, going up against Žatec-Pilsen, SCARLAT and DST-NTC, and finally the German team who were the previous victors and won against them all, and the museum was saved thanks to us" Tom finished.

"Also, what do you think about the other European commanders Miho?" he then asked, "hmm? Oh, well, Zlata seems to be a nice person, a bit shy and fragile though, but she had a really nice voice" she disclosed, "yeah, she's actually an amateur opera singer in her spare time, she could sing her country's anthem so beautifully it would make its own original composer weep, although from what I've heard she has a problem with stage fright, and that's why she took up tankery to try and give herself courage, and ended up as a commander as she quickly became popular with the team, which is a majority of first-year students, as she was nice, kind and gave a lot away, but as you've seen, she's still got her issue of cracking under pressure, but I do know she has the courage, she just needs to find it" Tom replied.

"But Katarina though" Miho shuddered slightly, still having that image of staring into her cold eyes, "that Croatian girl? I did see a picture of her once and I say she looks rather nice" Hana then mentioned, being unaware of what happened at the meeting, "she is, but that is if you get past the fact she's a smoker, is six foot tall, and will rip your head off if you insult her in any way" Tom revealed, "is she really that bad?" Hana wanted confirmation, "yes Hana, and after being forced to look into her eyes, I can say that with confidence" Miho quivered, Saori then remembered something, "I think I remember reading on social media that she went on a rant and proclaimed she would 'destroy those imperialists', whatever that means" she wondered, "she's probably referring to Saunders and All-Stars, those two teams do represent the forces who have conspired against her kind in the past" Nelson theorised, "what stuff in the past?" Mako asked, who was managing to stay awake at this point, "Yugoslav war history and political stuff, you don't really want to be bored with the details" he replied.

"And what about Vlatko? I've seen him before and he's creepy if you ask me" Saori remembered looking at a picture of him, "he's a sort of person who keeps to himself and only speaks when it's required, as he values his own breath, although really he's the one who prevents Katarina from going full agro on everyone who goes against her, but compared to her, he's more authoritarian through stature rather than expression, and despite his quietness, he's still a competent commander".

"Theodor looks better than him that's for sure, more respectable as well" Miho continued to the Romanian, "ehh, sure he's shows respect for his rivals, but I will warn you he does has a bit of a condescending personality, his politeness in combat is to really get his enemy into a state of reassurance, before he completely smashes them with the strategy of umbra războiului, or after translation, 'shadow war'" Tom admitted, Miho didn't really think he was that condescending, she had seen those sorts of people in the past, Marie, Erika and to a small part Megumi came to mind, but as she thought about it more, hearing his words and watching his actions back over in her head, she realized a part of Theodor's personality was intertwined with his tankery strategies.

"And finally that leaves Annie" Tom pointed out, "I saw a picture of her and, just, aww she's just so cute" Saori chirped, squeezing her cheeks slightly with her hands Tom smiled "yeah she's one special someone, her small and cheerful personality really gives life to European tankery, she may be very short, but she does manage it herself, although sometimes, Margaréta and Tamás give her a hand with things", "has she had any piggy-backs before, like with Katyusha and Nonna?" Yukari questioned, "on occasions, but not all the time, and it's usually Tamás who gives them, just to give her height in situations where it's required, but she, unlike Katyusha, doesn't have a Napoleonic complex, and always shows kindness towards the ones close to her" Nelson then jumped in, "I did see after Katarina dropped Katyusha, Annie rushed in to defend her" Miho recollected, "she does have a bit of a fangirl attitude towards Katyusha, when all the European teams were being organised for the tournament, I remember watching an interview with her and she did mention her inspiration towards Katyusha, mainly due to their similarities in stature, and was highly willing to meet her, and as you saw Miho, she did and those two seem to have become quick friends after seeing them shake hands".

Miho smiled to that realization of a friendship blossoming between two other commanders, then Douglas stood up, showing off his blue trunks with a white saltire across it all, "sorry lads but I'm starting to get a bit wrinkly if you know what I mean" he admitted, Miho held her hands up and also noticed her fingers starting to show those signs, "yeah maybe we should to" she suggested, all the boys and girls got out of the water (with Saori pulling Mako out as she was starting to fall asleep as usual) and proceeded to grab towels and cover themselves.

Ooarai's base also had a common room full of pieces for any occupants to kill their time on, there where a few objects, a pool table, a television with sofas and chairs to sit at, tables with their own chairs, a dartboard, fridge with and a small kitchen counter, it had everything for the team when they wanted to chill out.

"Good thing that the repairs on that StuG transmission didn't take too long" Nakajima said, still wearing her orange overalls (she along with the rest of Leopon team had the exception to wearing their tankery uniforms all the time) as she was preparing to take a shot on the pool table, with her participant Knugen watching on, "working on gearboxes is hard work, I should know as I've done that times before" he revealed as Nakajima took her shot, the cue ball hitting the five-ball and sending it bouncing around, but it didn't make it to a pocket, "aww man" she complained to the failed shot and turned back to him, "have you been in the engineering field as well?" she asked, "of course, I'm from Västra Götaland, pretty much the industrial heartland of Sweden, came into contact with many pieces of machinery over my time, with cars and tanks being predominant" he told, getting himself ready for his shot, he hit the cue ball and it in turn, hit and knocked the eleven-ball into a pocket, "so you've driven other tanks before?" Nakajima questioned, Knugen stopped for a second to think, "yeah, I've driven a few tanks, I've been in a Strv m/42, an Ikv 90B, a Leo prototype, an EMIL heavy tank, and even an Strv 103, so yeah I've been behind the wheel a few times in my life, and also worked on a few engines" he explained, in the process preparing himself for another shot on the table, he hit the cue ball and it hit the two-ball in a manner he didn't intend, the cue ball skated across and went into a pocket, with him looking rather annoyed in return, "för guds skull varför jag" he complained in his mother's tongue, "tough luck" Nakajima confronted, giving him a pat on the back.

At a few chairs at the edge of the room looking in, Caesar and Alberico where both talking to each other, in Italian of course.

"So you were from Rome am I correct?" Caesar asked "yes, my original residence wasn't too far from the Vatican actually, Hugo was from Taranto, Alfonso from Palermo and Floriano is from Florence, we were from all over Italy before we came to Campania school" Alberico confirmed and then mentioned, "when did you start getting into tanks then?" Caesar probed, Alberico looked at the roof as he went through his mind, "the first tank I was in was an L6/40 light tank, once I met the rest of my crew, we used a Carro P43 where I was the radio operator, when we got the Standard B for us, since Alfonso had the radio's as a commander, I became the Loader for the magazine" he told, "so where did you get your tank from, how does the European system work?" Caesar questioned, still curious about the origins of their current tank, Alberico scratched the side of his head just below his peaked cap, "well how it all works is that a school can partner itself with a tank parts manufacturer, they are all under the authority of the ETA anyways, when we want a certain tank built, we can send ETA verified blueprints of that tank to them, and then they can produce the tank for us, it's how us Europeans are able to field exotic prototype vehicles like ours" he explained, "well, that seems interesting" Caesar said in interest.

At the two sofas, most of Rabbit team and also Erik and Hugo where watching the TV screen, Karina had the remote and was flicking through the channels but huffed, "ai- they really don't have this tuned to anything interesting" she complained, with Saki still staring blankly at the screen, "or anything our taste" Yukki added on, "or anything European" Hugo finished off.

Then Azusa came into the room and walked towards them, "hey, I just found out there's a news program for this tournament, it's going to start soon" she announced, she then took the remote off Karina and proceeded to punch in a channel number, after that, the TV turned to another channel, Azusa sat down as the program went through its intro's, Nakajima, Knugen, Caesar and Alberico came over to see what was happening.

The camera came down onto a desk with a boy and girl sitting at it, in smart looking clothes, the girl looked instantly recognisable.

"Hey its Taiga!" Aya exclaimed in joy, "so it is" Azusa said surprised, "I see the placement she got was rather high up in the broadcasting side of the tournament" Karina added on, "and who's the boy next to him?" Yuuki said in curiosity, the boy in question was around 5' 4" in height and was wearing a suit, he hand light brown hair and light blue eyes, "that's Ragnar Kristiansen, he's been taking a broadcasting class at a private school which also has a small hand in tankery, pretty good at his job" Hugo recalled off his mind, "he does seem to be Swedish by his name and looks" Ayumi theorised, "Norwegian actually" Erik corrected her, with the group turning their attention back to the screen".

"The first day of the tournament has passed us and we've had a fun day watching the teams go at it in their prime" Taiga started, "the first fights we have seen this day have mostly been the teams fighting against many of the Jinzōno vehicles, small skirmishes taking place near the home bases, but generally rather simplistic" Ragnar then backed her up with his own thoughts, "Indeed, but we did almost see a fight form between Žatec-Pilsen and Saunders, but the Czech tanks did make an effort to turn away and avoid contact" Taiga then mentioned in conversation, "yes, and I can see the reason behind that, as all schools don't start with too much resources so they'll be trying to avoid each other to prevent any unnecessary losses, Jinzōno on the other hand, are much lower risk opponents" Ragnar pointed out, "smart thinking" Taiga approved, they then both looked back at the camera.

"Now we do have some people to talk to today but before we get onto that, we do have some texts and posts to read which have been sent in from devoted Japanese and European fans, so, Ragnar?" Taiga then laid out and asked her colleague.

"Well let's start with this one from jaja2534: Wow can't believe this giant tournament is happening, big fan of BC Freedom in both the official tournaments and tankathlon's, sooo pumped that Asparagus came back to her old school and is commanding them again, Marie, Andou and Oshida are definitely going to like having her back on board, Allez my comrades! #AsparagusReturn #BCFreedom #1ESGBT" he read off.

"Nice, and here's one from PragaKrál_CZ: Joy from the Czech Republic, number one fan of Žatec-Pilsen and their commanders Zlata and Marika, also watching the entire thing with bottle of Plzeň brand beer (non-alcoholic of course), Marika's favourite brand, wish I could give them a hundred cases, make us proud my besties! Pro naši pýchu! #ŽatecPilsen #Czechia #1ESGBT" Taiga then read off the next one.

"Another one here from SenpaiMistro732: All shouts for Chi-Ha-Tan! Baroness and her little-chan's, you are the best! #ChiHaTan #KinuyoNishi #Tamada #Fukuda #Hosomi #1ESGBT" Ragnar picked up another.

"Looks like we have a bit of a patriotic one here from LovacHerzog81991: Haha! Our glorious Katarina will be victorious over them all! Us Croats and our Serbian brothers will march together and crush pathetic imperialists under our feet! Ići Katarina! Ići Vlatko! #HrvatskaSrbija #DST #NTC #ImperialistCrushing #1ESGBT" Taiga read.

"Here's another good one from Nishi-Dono2123: cheering for Ooarai from the start, Miho is such a cute commander, glad she had the one and only Tom Bolton on her team as well, both the victors of Japanese and European Sensha-dō tournaments on the same team, all the other schools better look out. Go team Ooarai! #MihoNishizumi #TomBolton #Ooarai #Bovington #1ESGBT" Ragnar read out another text.

"Lots of people are cheering for us guys!" Yuuki cheered, "sure, we are known as the school who came out of nowhere and as the underdogs beat all the ones at the top" Azusa mentioned.

"Now that's not only what we have in store tonight, as we have two guests to speak to" Taiga then mentioned,

The camera then changed to show two men also sitting at the desk, the one further away was familiar, while the other closer one not so much.

"Welcome onto the show, Shichiro Kodama, director of the JSF, and Stanisław Warszawski, chairman of the ETA" Ragnar, introduced.

The girls knew Shichiro well, but Warszawski was different, being 5' 6" tall and being slightly large around the waist, wearing a black suit with a white and red tie, he had a slightly wrinkled face, with brown eyes with a pair of square glasses and short dark grey hair covering his head.

"It must be exciting to see the sides of tankery from two different sides of the world coming together" Taiga started, "indeed it is, a lot of work has been done between the JSF and ETA to make this entire thing possible" Shichiro replied to her question.

"Now we do have a few questions for you both tonight, one main question we have is how the European damage system works and how its calculated" Ragnar asked, Warszawski was the one to answer, "well in terms of equipment the tanks are equipped with the same sensors and electronics which are on the Japanese tanks, for the Japanese vehicles only a few chips which controlled the systems had to be changed to make them compatible with the methods we use, to put it simply, when a shell strikes the tank, the 'virtual shrapnel' is calculated by the sensors, where it goes and what it hits, if it should damage or destroy certain components, if it should knock out a crew member, how much it damages the crew compartment, that sort of thing, it does sound a bit complicated but the system has been perfected over its use", the Polish chairman spoke.

"Interesting, another question we had was a concern about the participation of MBT's, was there any attempts in order to make them more balanced?" Taiga said, "the MBT's which participate in tournaments have been made to certain regulations, for example, the steel and alloys which they are made are made to the code and strength of steel and alloys used in tank production back in the 1960's, also their stabilizers and fire control systems have been weakened along with the other mentioned changes, such as the banning of gas-turbine engines, ATGM's and modern night vision systems, but do note that last point doesn't apply to anything made before mid-1945, but back on point, we at the ETA do believe these rules do make a participating MBT a worthwhile opponent, but not a complete overpowered monster" Warszawski explained.

"I also wonder just how much effort went into this, trying to get multiple Sensha-dō teams from two continents together to participate must be one big choir" Ragnar wondered, "indeed, we had to get all the schools and their school ship's together in the area…" Shichiro began to talk, behind them on the backdrop, pictures of the European school ships were being shown.

It first showed Žatec-Pilsen's ship, being based of a President Masaryk river monitor, DST's was based off a Ciclone class destroyer and NTC had a Z class destroyer, SCARLAT had a school ship based off the Amiral Murgescu minelayer, but the most grand had to be MTF's, being based on the Szent István dreadnought, all the ships of course being huge compared to their inspirations, with sprawling communities across their large decks.

"We also had the challenge of getting every tank to the battlefield, all in the same configurations and getting the teams on the same page, the logistics to make this all happen is in itself huge, getting all the people, the news crews, the judges, everyone had to pitch their own efforts into this large project, to bring both Japanese and European tankers together for the first time ever in a grand tournament nobody has seen before" Shichiro finished his statement.

"So this is the largest thing you all have prepared in your careers?" Taiga asked, "indeed, and for me it will be my last, as my term as chairman will be over after this tournament, and the gears will turn in the ETA to elect a new chairman or chairwoman" Warszawski admitted.

"What are the likely candidates for your succession?" Taiga wondered, "they're can be many runners in the leadership if they choose to run, the likely candidates will be Leo Ibsen, Director of the ETA media group, Reiner Leopold, Director of the ETA tank compliance committee, hmph... Sandra Hendriks, Organizer and Director of the European transition team, and if he wants to, Thorvald Sigmund Emil, instructor of the ETA High school and University league can be another candidate on the ballet" Warszawski listed.

"Well I personally hope for your success after your term is up, and thank you both for giving " Taiga wished for, she and Ragnar turned back to the main camera, "well that's what we have for now, stay tuned as we go back into the roots of tankery in Europe, in this special piece up next" Ragnar finished their part.

Meanwhile outside, Saemonza, Oryou and Shinobu where in the night air, Saemonza was practicing her bow skills, shooting her arrows perfectly at a random trash can lid they had hung up on the exterior fence, with the latter two looking on.

When Saemonza finished her volley and walked over to the target to pull her arrows out, Jörgen came up to them, curious to what was going on.

"What are you all doing?" he asked the girls, "Monza's just practicing her archery skills" Oryou answered him, "well she does seem to have a good shot" the Swede responded in kindness, Saemonza walked back up to him, she stopped for a moment as she realized it was the boy she had been eyeing up, she grabbed a bit of courage and took the final few steps.

Oryou knowing that Saemonza had been bluffing decided to play a bit cheeky, "your the Elk team gunner ain't you?" she asked, with Jörgen nodding in response "isn't it true that you were good at archery? You know, living up in the Swedish wilderness and all" Oryou continued to probe.

"Please don't Oryou" Saemonza begged in her head.

Jörgen then looked at the target and then to Saemonza, "fire one of those arrows" he asked, Saemonza gave a weird look in confusion, but just shrugged and turned to face the target, she put an arrow in her bow and pulled the string back, after some careful aiming, she let the string go, the arrow flew through the air and struck the lid right in the centre.

Jörgen then walked to her side and held his hand out, signalling he wanted a shot with the bow, Saemonza handed the bow to him along with an arrow, he took up his position and took aim with the weapon, Saemonza was taken aback by how perfect his stance was, right leg placement, string taut evenly, no death grip, steady hands, he looked like a pro archer to her.

The Swede then let go of the string and the arrow whizzed through the air, its point hitting dead on the rear of the earlier arrow embedded in the metal lid, the wooden shaft was split clean down the middle as Jörgen's arrow continued through, his arrow finally came to rest in the metal target, with the two halves of the earlier arrow curved upwards and downwards respectively.

Saemonza was utterly speechless to the sight of the split arrow, "damn that's a good shot" Shinobu praised as Jörgen turned back to Saemonza, "as a man who had to live on the edge and learn to hunt in the Lapland wilderness, you can see where my gunnery skills come from, now excuse me, I need to go do something" he told, giving her bow back, he turned and walked back to the main building.

Oryou noticed Saemonza's shocked expression, "pfff no I don't Monza said" she teased, referring to what Saemonza had said earlier in the StuG, Saemonza then turned to her surprised and with a hot blush now on her cheeks, "s-shut up!" she snapped back, now embarrassed, both Oryou and Shinobu laughed at the sight.

Erwin was sat at her desk in her office, with a map in front of her doing a few plans, she had decided to plan for tomorrow's operation ahead of time and was looking at assaulting a depot in a mountainous area of the play area.

A knock on the door then took her out of her thoughts, "come in" she called out, the door opened, and the person stuck his head around the edge,

Of course it was Alfonso.

"Ciao Erwin" he greeted, walking fully in and shutting the door behind him, "err hi Alfonso" she replied as she returned to the map, Alfonso walked over to and pulled a chair from the wall over to just in front of her desk, he lounged in it casually as he watched her work.

Erwin noticed this and looked back up at him, "are you here just to play or something?" she questioned with a cocked eye, the Italian smiled back, "just came here to see how you were doing" he insisted.

"Well, I'm busy planning tomorrows operations, probably going to go up into the mountains" she proceeded to explain, Alfonso just nodded, "you don't seem to be interested in that don't you?" Erwin then probed, noticing the look on his face, he then smiled.

"Well the real reason I came here was to show you something I have" he mentioned, he then reached into his jacket and pulled out what looked like at first a square piece of paper, but when he turned it around to show Erwin, it was revealed to be a black and white photo of a man in Italian tanker uniform, standing next to a Carro M13/40 somewhere in the desert.

"Who's that?" she asked a bit confused, "that's my great-grandfather, Mercurio Salvatore, he was a tank commander in the North Africa and Italian campaigns, I thought you would be interested in him as well, mainly because he fought under your namesake" he revealed.

"Wait? F-Field marshal Rommel himself?" Erwin stammered slightly in surprise, Alfonso smiled and proceeded to tell his story,

"Yes indeed, my great-grandfather was very fond of that field marshal, he fought alongside him through Tobruk and El-Alamein and all the way back to Tunisia, even after Italy changed sides, my great-grandfather continued to fight alongside the Germans in the north, defending the Gustav line and fighting in Anzio when it was invaded, but he was not fighting for the Germans nor the Italian people, but for the field marshal he was inspired by, and stood close to his ideals of treating his enemy with respect, but when he was on the Gothic line, he heard of Rommel's death, the Germans would say he died from a heart attack, but my great-grandfather, with knowledge of the July 20th plot which happened a few months earlier, thought otherwise, the Germans had just killed one of their own hero's, and he would not stand for that, so one night, he and his crew in the tank, drove south and out of the Gothic line, turned himself in at the nearest Allied outpost, and switched sides to the Italian Republic, he continued to fight for the Allies until the wars end in 1945, and it was said that upon the victory in Europe being read out, an American soldier said to him that his country would be proud of him, but my great-grandfather replied with, 'no, Rommel would be proud of me'".

"And he went back to his life with his tank, the tank was handed down the hands of the family, and now it sits in the garage at my home, but that wasn't the only item, he also had his tanker helmet and a picture of Rommel, both handed down to my generation".

"What? Is that the helmet you were wearing in your tank?" Erwin asked, Alfonso smirked and nodded, "jeez, you have history" she marvelled, leaning back in her seat, "well as a historian is that what you're supposed to examine?" he said with a slight flirty tone.

"Damn, I went straight into that one" Erwin cursed to herself, now with a bit of a blush on her face.

But Alfonso then just laughed at her embarrassed look, "that look on your face was funny, but yes, putting it simply, I do have a long family history, especially in tankery as I was taught how to operate a tank early on, even before my time at Campania Tankery School" he then confirmed, Erwin hummed to that in satisfaction.

Now she really was interested in him.

"Well thanks for that story, but I do need to get back to planning this operation for tomorrow" she recounted, "okay then" Alfonso approved and stood back up, then gave a bit of a smirk, "I will like to see what you come up with, piccola volpe mio" he breathed with a slight flirty tone again, Erwin was confused by that word as he walked to the door, "addio Erwin" he parted and walk out the room.

Erwin continued to work, but that word which Alfonso had said to her kept nagging at her in the back of her mind, it had soon got to the point of where she could not work anymore, she decided to find out, she got up from her desk and walk out of her room, shutting the door behind her.

After walking down the corridors for a bit, walking past the office at a junction which contained the public morals committee, she reached the door of the commons room, just in time to see Caesar walking out,

"Hey Caesar, can I ask you something" Erwin intoned, pulling Caesar off to the side, "sure, what is it?" the other girl replied, "well, I heard this Italian word, but I don't know what it means, can you translate it?" Erwin asked for, "what was it roughly?" Caesar probed, "well, it sounded like piccola volpe mio" Erwin mimicked, the sudden look on Caesar's face was of one of slight uncertainty mixed with embarrassment for Erwin, "wait, is it a curse word or something?" Erwin questioned the look she was getting from her loader, "erm, Erwin, that word translates to 'my little fox'" Caesar admitted.

"EHH!?" Erwin yelped, now with her cheeks red hot with embarrassment, Alfonso had wooed her in his own language, and the worst part of it was, she actually thought the word sounded so pleasant and exotic.

"Who said it to you?" Caesar questioned further, Erwin took some time to get the courage up and get rid of some of the embarrassment, "Salvatore-san did" she mumbled, she expected for Caesar to tease her, but to her surprise, Caesar kept her composure, "I see" she responded to Erwin's embarrassing answer.

"Wait, you're not going to tease me like Oryou or something?" Erwin vacillated, Caesar rubbed the back of her head "well if I did that I would be a hypocrite" she admitted, "what? Hold on, are you in the same situation?" Erwin went further, Caesar then took a deep breath herself, "I think I may have a crush on Alberico" she revealed, "really?" Erwin said in return a bit shocked, "yeah, I mean, he's nice, he's great to talk to, in English and Italian, and also, and this is the part which really got me" Caesar said and then paused, "and what?" Erwin pushed a bit, "he also studied Roman history like me" the other girl finished.

Erwin leaned back a bit and took a deep breath, "you don't want a boyfriend, don't you?" Caesar theorised, "no Caesar, it's just it feels embarrassing, what will the other girls think of me?" the Hippo commander admitted, Caesar just shrugged her shoulders, as she was in the same position, "I don't really know, knowing how Oryou jumps on these things, I bet ridicule will be what meets us, especially since these boys are from outside our culture" she theorised,

Erwin huffed, "okay, how about we just get through this tournament and then deal with our relationship problems later, that's something we can both do can we?" she then suggested, Caesar nodded to that, "but what if, you know, we do end up in a relationship, or any of the other girls for that matter?" she then asked, "well we better be ready for the embarrassment" Erwin sombred, she then turned around "well I need to go finish off my plans before I go to bed, it is getting late" she then parted, "ok, see you later" Caesar responded in kind, and the two walked off.

The Europeans were having their effect, not just on the battlefield, but in the team itself.

* * *

Translations

för guds skull varför jag = for god's sake why me (Swedish)

piccola volpe mio = my little fox (Italian)

addio = goodbye (Italian)


	10. 砂漠の戦い！- Desert Fight!

**Well hey guys, here's another delayed chapter, I was expecting to get this out earlier, but due to the changes I implemented taking longer than expected (which are coming out along with this chapter, and I do advise reading back through them to familiarize yourself with Lupo teams new ride) and procrastination, this chapter was delayed as a result…**

 **Also, College decided to throw a bunch of work at me, yeah, that was fun… not.**

 **I'm also humbled by the fact despite these delays, you all are still here, I do praise you all for your continued support and are a major factor why this project got as far as it has,**

 **With that, now the reviews…**

 **1: Nice chapter loved how you explained the history of the ETA plus can't wait for the next news report also maybe they could get Shino to have her on the show but she will only voice her own opinions on the matter also she makes a threatening statement to all boys who attempted to get close to her daughters especially the one close to Miho but the news feed gets cut before she could rant on.**

 **Also for St Gloriana new toys and this is just some guess they are a Comet, Cromwell, Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger, Excelsoir, Churchill Gun Carrier, Black Prince, Valentine or the Archer, Achilles and the Tortuous and for Cold War Tanks say the Conqueror or a Centurion.**

 **For Chi-Ha-Tan maybe either the Type 91 Heavy, Type 3 Chi-Nu, Type 4 Chi-To, Type 5 Chi-Ri, which is my favourite Japanese Tank in World of Tanks Blitz and for Cold War Tanks say the STA-1 and the Type 61.**

 **Well I do have some Shiho rants planned for Taiga and Ragnar to deal with :-), also some of those tanks you listed will make an appearance,**

 **2: I like it, but I've got a question though, how old are these boys exactly? because It seems they're a bit shorter than I expect from the average height for male in Europe. (Well I'm not from Europe or even near Europe, but I do know their average height for male and female). Nonetheless Keep it up!**

 **I am aware that the average height for Europeans is higher compared to the Japanese, the reason why the boy volunteers are mostly the same height as the Ooarai girls is really just to keep them on the same level, and not make them too dominant, I do however make reference to this average height difference (case and point being Katarina, who is six bloody feet tall), also these boys are equivalent to second-year students, exception being Douglas who is a first-year, being Ronald's younger brother, I hope that answered your query.**

 **3: If you need to change something then that's ok.**

 **Also since December is coming up in two months have ever considered a Christmas special chapter to show the girls how the boys celebrate Christmas in there respected countries plus some shenanigans and comedy or are you just focusing on the tournament.**

 **But still hope the changes you made will satisfy you**

 **I was thinking of doing a Christmas special, but due to time constraints, and also feeling I haven't fleshed out this project enough, I sadly have to trash that idea for this year, maybe I'll do something over the summer, I don't know, time is a luxury for me at the moment.**

 **4: Instead of throwing this story away, why don't you fix the plotholes by using what so called as "connector" to bridge the gap. In some of my stories, I sometimes realized that large uniformed problems could be addressed faster than lingering in small one by one details.**

 **Beside, a part of being in GuP universe means you don't have to strictly limit yourself in the historical realism. If you want to use something, then use it, and build connector on why you have to do that. This is, after all, not a real world, though lamented by many historical references.**

 **Yeah, I may have over-exaggerated that point, their less in terms of plot-holes but more in terms of mild-inconsistencies, but I will take in what you suggested, as I have a tendency of being too specific in certain situations where its not needed, also I see you understand my vision of the GuP universe, it has nice historical references, but overall, it was never intended to be super-realistic (if it was, it would not have even gotten past the first manga release if you ask me) and allows for some ridiculous and crazy stuff to happen, thanks for being understanding and thanks for the advice!**

 **And now, here comes the chapter**

* * *

 **砂漠の戦い！** **\- Desert Fight! (Pravda vs. St. Gloriana)**

The high noon sun was now beating down on the sand of the desert, the air was light and the sand was searing hot, the desert area was rather large on the map, being in a slight depression and was surrounded by brown cliffs which served to keep the hot air swirling around the area, keeping the area hot compared to the other areas of the map,

And in the middle of this desert was Pravda, and it was pretty safe to say, they were way out of their element.

In the lead T-34-85 was a hot, sweltering Katyusha, wearing her tanker cap, the inside of the tanks felt like a hot, humid sweatbox with the desert heat outside, she had her jumpsuit opened up from the front, exposing the red shirt she wore underneath in an effort to stay cool, but sweat was still coming off her body and making a visible patch near the neck area of her red shirt.

Her crew where also in a similar dress state, her gunner for example having taken her black vest off and opened up her green jacket underneath.

Katyusha was panting like a dog, trying to stay cool, "Guh, Katyusha is hot" she said to herself as she pushed up the hatches on her cupola, trying to get some fresh air, the hatches opened, and she scrunched up her eyes as the blinding sun filled her view,

She stood up and took a look around as the wind rushed through her hair due to the moving vehicle, with it and the formation going across the sun-soaked sand, she looked behind and saw Nonna's IS-2 just behind her, and behind that was Klara's T-34-85, to Katyusha's front was one of their new tanks, a KV-4 heavy tank, specifically the version designed by N. L. Dukhov, armed with a 107 mm ZiS-6 cannon, and a smaller 45 mm coaxial gun in the mantlet, in front of that was a T-34-76 leading the pack, there were three tanks to the left of Katyusha's vehicle, the centre one was Nina and Alina's KV-2, in front was a T-34-57, which used to be one of their T-34-76's, only before Pravda had replaced its 76 mm gun with a 57 mm ZiS-4M gun in its 1943 turret, improving its anti-tank capabilities, behind the KV-2 was another new tank, an ASU-85 air portable tank destroyer, this formation was mirrored on Katyusha's right, at the front was Pravda's final new tank, a T-44-100 prototype, armed with a large 100 mm gun and Schürzen side skirts, behind that was the last T-34-76 and at the back of the column was a single T-70 light tank.

Katyusha reached down and picked up her radio's microphone, "Nonna, what's your condition?" she questioned,

In the IS-2, Nonna had her uniform opened up at the front, including the top of her red undershirt exposing a bit of her cleavage, she even had the IS-2's manual in her hand, flapping it in her face in an effort to keep cool, "I'm fine Katyusha, just a bit warm" she smiled, "what about you Klara?" Katyusha continued on the radio.

"I'm okay too Miss Katyusha" Klara responded in her T-34-85, having taken her black vest and green jacket completely off and being only in her red turtleneck undershirt.

"It's really hot commander, do we have to go straight through a desert?" the commander of one of the T-34-76's complained over the radio, "are you questioning Katyusha's wise tactical choices!? You better push through this heat or Katyusha will do it herself!" Katyusha snapped back at the complaining commander.

"Why did Katyusha, knowing we're better acclimated to cold, push us straight into a desert?" Nina asked Alina in the KV-2, "I don't know but it's probably because she doesn't know what she's doing" Alina replied to her comment, but they didn't realise their radio was turned on…

"I HEARD THAT!" Katyusha yelled across the airwaves to that insult, with Nina and Alina shrieking to the shock, then Katyusha huffed, "It seems you all forgot how Katyusha's glorious plan worked" she shamed, "could you run it by us again commander?" the commander of the ASU-85 questioned.

"These harsh and uncomfortable conditions in this desert mean that no team would have the guts to travel into it, which means that the depot in the middle of the area is ripe for the taking by us" she proceeded to explain, "I can see where you're coming from commander" Klara understood her plan, "y-yeah, us too" Nina stammered, trying to repair the situation between her and the commander.

Katyusha was then however interrupted by the sound of hissing coming from the rear of the tank, "huh? What's wrong?" she questioned the sound, "engine coolants overheating commander" her driver called up through the tank, "again? Urgh!" Katyusha grumbled in frustration.

"Katyusha's engine is overheating again, all tanks pull up and stop, I will give twenty minutes for your engines to cool and for you all to get rest, use it wisely" she ordered.

The T-70 was the last tank to turn its engine off after pulling up, all the tanks where now parked in a line as all the crew members were walking around them.

"Look at all of this sand, maybe we could make a sandcastle" Nina said joyfully when hopping off the KV-2's engine deck, "I don't know, I mean we aren't on a beach and we need to save our water" Alina replied, "that won't stop me" the other one vowed, reaching down to pick up some sand, but a millisecond after sinking her bare hands in, she recoiled and sharply pulled them out, flapping them around like they were on fire, as the hot sand had burnt her fingers, "ARGH! HOT! HOT!" she cried, Alina just giggled, "you do realize that this is a desert, where you know, it's hot" she pointed out the obvious, "Not funny Alina!" Nina whined back.

Katyusha was stood on her T-34-85's engine deck, looking proudly over all of her team, she saw Klara giving out water bottles to the team, while some crew members were taking water out of the external fuel tanks on some of the vehicles (they had been repurposed to carry water instead of fuel for the mission) to fill the cooling systems of the tanks,

"Miss Klara, should we put sunscreen on since where now in the hot sun?" a crew member asked the woman of that name who was walking nearby, "that is actually a good point" she replied, with Katyusha overhearing that and reminding her of the dangers of the sun, "oh, that reminds me, Katyusha will advise you all to put sunscreen on, don't come crying to me if you get sunburnt" she ordered, but what she didn't notice was Nonna coming up behind her, with a bottle of sunscreen and cream on her free hand, she pulled Katyusha back and bit and then slapped the cream on her face, "that includes you Katyusha" she cooed, "mmph! No-na!" the commander whined as her face was attacked by Nonna's hand, nearby, Alina who had put some cream on her hand then looked at Nina, as a joke she then tried to slap it on Nina's face, but Nina caught her hand and pushed it back, and Alina ended up slapping her own face, and covering it in sunscreen, Nina laughed as Alina aimed the bottle of sunscreen in her other hand and squeezed, "eep!" Nina exclaimed as her face was covered by a stream of cold-feeling sunscreen.

Ten minutes had passed after the sunscreen fiasco, many of the crewmembers had laid tarp under the tanks and had taken shelter underneath the shadow of the vehicles, the commander of the T-44-100, with some other crew members gathered around, had even pulled up one of the Schürzen panels till it was perpendicular to the ground, holding it up with a stick, and was cooking a few makeshift Pravda ration S'mores on it as the sun's rays had heated up the metal quite substantially.

"Are you absolutely sure that there's no-one else here commander?" Nina asked in worry, since they were in a pretty defenceless position, "you can trust Katyusha, the desert heat would have repulsed any other team, as they couldn't take the heat, except for us" Katyusha reassured with a boast, Nina rolled her eyes a bit as she still wasn't fully convinced, "also, where's Nonna and Klara?" Katyusha then asked, "I think they're around the back of the IS-2" Nina theorised, Katyusha then walked other to the tank in question, and after walking around to the other side, she was surprised by the sight.

Both Nonna and Klara where laid out on pieces of tarp, wearing only bikinis as their clothes were in a pile nearby, Klara in a blue one while Nonna was wearing red, "wha? Why are you two sunbathing, and where did you get that swimwear from!?" Katyusha spat out in surprise, "oh, we were wearing these under our uniforms expecting the heat, we couldn't turn down the opportunity to relax in the sun" Klara mentioned, "would you like to join us Katyusha?" Nonna kindly offered, "Katyusha would if she had swimwear, but Katyusha doesn't since where in a desert and not on a beach" Katyusha flatly replied, "by the way, why is there even a desert here?" Klara asked about the area's existence,

"This whole map for the tournament use to be a JSDF created tank testing ground, with all different environmental conditions to test vehicles, they made all these different areas with different climates, the snowy plateaus in the north where our base is located and the deserts which we are in right now, the JSF did take this all over and add a few cities and buildings, and when the ETA suggested this tournament, this was the perfect place to have it" Nonna explained, having a bit of knowledge of the history of these grounds,

"But I may admit, I still don't know how they managed to create a desert in the climate of Japan" Nonna sighed a bit, "well that doesn't matter, no matter how hot it gets, we shall smash through this desert like the Russians in Afghanistan!" Katyusha then boasted, Klara shook her head, " _Ya ne dumayu, chto ona ponimayet, kak zakonchilas' voyna"_ she said to Nonna, " _mozhet, ona khochet, chtoby u nas byla neudacha"_ Nonna chucked in return, their words echoing the words of Hippo team during their united match against All-Stars.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!? NO RUSSIAN!" Katyusha predictably snapped at them.

Another ten minutes had passed, and the tanks where now cooled off and in a state to get moving again, with everyone back in their respected vehicles (and after Nonna and Klara put their clothes back on), the Pravda armour column got moving again, driving through the gaps of the large, rolling sand dunes.

After more driving, Katyusha looked at her map, and saw they must be getting close to the depot they were after, "we are now close to the depot, should be over this next dune" she informed over the radio, the lead T-34-76 crossed over the dune and stopped just on the edge, "ahh! Commander I see it!" its commander said joyfully over the radio.

Once Katyusha had crossed over the dune, she saw the depot, being a concrete coloured square spot in the yellowness of the landscape, situated in a depression surrounded on three sides by large dunes, as well as many smaller ones, with an access trail connecting to it which wound off into the distance, four trailers of resource where sat in the fence surrounded perimeter, ready for them to take, another plus was the absence of any Jinzōno tanks, so it seemed super easy.

But Katyusha wasn't the only person to realize the advantages of the desert region.

As Nonna came over the edge, she had noticed a lot of sand being kicked up in the distance, "Katyusha, I think they may be something on the other side of those dunes" she informed her commander on the sight, "it's probably a small sandstorm" Katyusha waved it off, "I'm not so sure" Nonna replied, still not feeling right, Katyusha, willing to settle Nonna's nerves, then looked over to the T-70.

"T-70, I want you to climb up the opposite dune and see what's causing that sandstorm" she then directed, "yes commander!" the T-70's commander replied, and the small tank raced down the slope of the dune, then it continued up the other slope.

The commander held onto the grip of her tank's gun as the tank continued up the slope, "get us up onto the edge and then stop" she ordered her driver, "yes mam!" her driver shouted back up over the revving of the engine, the T-70 finally reached the top of the dune and the tank lurched forward as it sat on the soft edge, the tank stopped and the commander looked through the periscope, what she saw immediately had her scrambling for her radio.

"Commander!" her words shouted over the waves, "what is it? Is it a large sandstorm?" Katyusha pulled for answers, "no Commander! Its tanks kicking up that sand, St. Gloriana tanks!" the T-70 commander panicked.

"What!?" Katyusha spat in surprise.

The St. Gloriana convoy was moving across the flat sand plane on the other side of the dune, the formation consisting of the central Churchill VII tank, surrounded by six Matilda II tanks, off to the left was three Crusader III tanks driving three-abreast, but there was a new tank following behind, that tank was the long TOG II heavy tank, with its 17 pounder gun on show in its turret at the front of the comically long hull,

The heat of the desert had been taking its toll on the Gloriana students, in the Churchill, the noble sisters were also trying to cope with the heat.

The regular selection of perfectly brewed tea in small cups had been swapped out for more relaxing ice tea in glasses, the ice clinked around as the tank moved, Darjeeling took a sip out of her glass through the straw which was sticking out of the top, also accompanied by a miniature umbrella, her uniform was also opened up at the front, showing off a white blouse underneath,

"Thank the lord for the invention of ice tea" she thanked to herself, also in the turret, Assam and Pekoe where in a similar dress state, "yeah, but I wish there was an oasis around here, would be nice to have a soak" Assam panted lightly, then taking a sip out of her glass, "well what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well" Darjeeling then quoted an author,

Rosehip was hearing the conversation in her Crusader, she had gone even further when it came to cooling off and had taken her redcoat off entirely, being only in her white blouse in violation of her schools posh nature, her ice tea also notably had a red tinge to it.

"I can tell you now, after being in these conditions, I have respect for the British who fought in the desert of North Africa _desu wa"_ she respected, now knowing how hard it is to fight in a desert, "by the way, where the hell is Nilgiri and Rukuriri?" The redhead then asked, Darjeeling looked behind her and saw a tank in the distance.

It was another one of their new tanks, an A38 Valiant, being commanded by Nilgiri and her crew, "why are you that far back Nilgiri?" Darjeeling questioned, "sorry commander, we got held up when my driver got her foot stuck behind the clutch, again", Nilgiri responded apologetically, "seriously? How many times are you going to have issues with that thing _desu wa?"_ Rosehip slandered, "well sorry Rosehip, but I wasn't the one who designed this stupid tank, I've got damn bruises on my body after hitting literally everything inside this turret" Nilgiri then complained, "well it was sold for free to us alongside the other tank, I couldn't turn down that offer" Darjeeling then mentioned, and that reminded her about another member of their team, "Rukuriri, where are you?" she asked to the girl in question, "a few sand dunes back, but where managing the desert fine, this new tank is amazing!" Rukuriri resounded,

"Commander, I think we're not alone in this desert _desu wa"_ Rosehip interjected, "in what way?" Darjeeling asked, "I can see another tank on top of the sand dune to our right, If I'm not mistaken, it's a T-70" the redhead continued, Darjeeling looked through her cupola and saw the T-70 as well, "it looks like Pravda may be here, what are we going to do commander?" Pekoe wondered, "let's keep going as normal, they will think we haven't seen them until the last moment, then we catch them off guard" Darjeeling planned.

"Commander, they don't seem to have seen us yet" the T-70 commander updated Katyusha, at that point, Pravda had formed themselves along the top of their dune, with all of the guns pointed down at the other dune, "you shall all hold your positions, don't open fire until Katyusha says so, T-70, move back down the dune and re-join us" the tiny tyrant barked, the guns of Pravda kept their sights on the right-most part of the dune, where it flowed down and merged with the level surface, the T-70 raced back down the dune in order to meet back up with the other tanks.

"Beware everyone, Pravda will have most likely formed themselves up for an attack, so stay out of the open and make use of any cover you can find" Darjeeling reminded her team, all the Gloriana tanks had their guns facing Pravda's direction, at that point, Rosehip's three Crusaders came out from behind the dune,

"There they are! All tanks open fire!" Katyusha shouted at her team, the Crusaders had their guns already aimed as they were able to get the first shots off, the shells hitting the sand and flying over the Pravda tanks, then the roar of the Pravda guns came as all fired a barrage down upon the Gloriana tanks,

As the Crusaders were racing towards the smaller dunes for cover, the other tanks came out from behind the main dune, Assam in the Churchill immediately fired a shot at the KV-4, the shell managed to hit but skimmed off the upper plate and shattered on the frontal armour plate, the KV-4 fired a shot back, but the shell hit the ground next to the Churchill, kicking up a large cloud of sand,

The Gloriana tanks where aiming for the smaller dunes which were just large enough to hide a tank behind, despite the onslaught of Pravda shells coming down on them, the Gloriana tanks were able to reach the dunes and each of the tanks took cover,

"Is everyone in cover?" Darjeeling asked over the radio, she was then interrupted by screaming over the radio, she looked behind through her cupola and saw Nigiri's Valiant trying to cross, while being bombarded by Pravda shells, the sand flew around the tank as the ground was peppered by blasts, with one shell actually contacting the top of the turret and bouncing off, despite Nigiri's panic, the Valiant managed to reach the dune next to the Churchill safely.

"How the hell did we miss them! We had all our guns firing" Katyusha hollered in annoyance as her sweat-soaked loader was throwing another round into the breach, "sorry commander but I think the heat's making it hard to hit anything" her gunner apologised, "well keep shooting! Keep them pinned down!" Katyusha continued to order.

"I see eleven Pravda tanks in total, estimated distance 700 yards, margin of error 150 yards" Assam ranged their opponent through her gun sight, "can you get a more accurate measurement?" Darjeeling asked, "unlikely, mirages are making it hard to judge distance" Assam continued as she was aiming a shot at Nonna's IS-2, she pulled the trigger and the Churchill's 75 mm fired, the projectile however, sailed right over Nonna's turret, Assam took a deep breath to that embarrassment, "I think that just demonstrated my point" she said in a sombre tone as Pekoe picked up a new round and threw it into the breach.

"I just wanna go out and smash them right now!" Rosehip scolded in her tempered voice, with her Crusader raring to go, "not now Rosehip, stay back, we'll wait for Rukuriri to come and take the hits for us" Darjeeling halted her, "don't worry commander, one more large dune and where there" Rukuriri came over the radio.

The Pravda tanks were still shooting at the dunes which the Gloriana tanks were hiding behind, but this was starting to take its toll on the loaders of the tanks, especially on the two in the KV-2,

"Uurgh, so hot, so sticky… I think I'm gonna puke" Alina complained as she pulled up another round onto the loading ramp, "if you're gonna do it, please do it outside the tank" Nina replied with a mixture of slight disgust and sympathy.

"Come on, come on keep shooting!" Katyusha continued to rat at her crew, "commander.. I, think…" her loader then said, with weakness in her voice, "what is it?" Katyusha replied still annoyed, she watched as her loader wobbled, her eyes then rolled into her head, and then she fell out of her seat and landed hard on the tank floor, she had passed out from the heat of the work.

Katyusha gasped and went down into the tank, grabbing her loader by the collar and shaking her, "hey! Wake up!" she exclaimed in a slight panic, but her loader wasn't responding, "Katyusha, what's happening?" Nonna asked over the radio, "my loader just passed out from the heat" the commander replied, she reached for a canteen which was nearby and gave her some water to try and cool her off, she then looked at the radio operator at the front of the tank, "hey you! Get in the loaders seat now!" the tiny tyrant harshly informed, "yes commander!" the radio operator replied, took her headphones off and scrambled to the loader's position, Katyusha left her loader to recover on the floor as she went back up to the commander's position,

"We need to rotate our loaders, mine just passed out from the heat" she told her team, Nonna looked back at her loader and the crew member sitting in the cupola, "you two should switch" she suggested, the two crew members nodded and proceeded to switch over.

"Don't worry commander, I'm almost at the top of the dune, we'll be ready to drop fire down on them" Rukuriri called over the Gloriana radio, "not a moment too soon, please help us with our predicament" Darjeeling calmly responded,

"Commander, there's another tank coming over the dune, it's a… what the hell!?" Katyusha heard over the radio from the T-70 commander, "huh?" she squealed in surprise and looked through her cupola,

The sight of a gun came first at the top of the opposite sand dune, then the rest of the vehicle came over the top, it's blocky, menacing structure, and the long gun with a circular muzzle break struck fear into the Pravda team, "ahh! Commander that's an A39 Tortoise!" Klara said, immediately recognising the tank, Katyusha was rather surprised, but on the inside, she had seen this being an inevitability, "hmph, so Darjeeling finally got the tank she wanted" she muttered to herself, "well what are you waiting for!? Open fire!" she then yelled at her teammates, all the Pravda tanks reacquired their targets and fired at the Tortoise, but every shell which hit the front either shattered or bounced clean off.

"Idiots! You really think you can get through my armour?" Rukuriri taunted in the commander's cupola, the Tortoise stopped and aimed with its 32 pounder gun, "ready to fire!" her gunner called out, "fire!" Rukuriri roared, and the 32 pounder gun fired a deadly projectile, the T-70 was unlucky enough to be in the path of the projectile, with it getting hit in the turret mantlet, the force of the impact throwing the tank back a meter, a white flag popped out of the turret soon after.

"Sorry commander where out!" the T-70 commander apologised, "where gonna finish you, you big bully!" the commander of the T-34-57 snarled, with them firing a shot, which pathetically bounced off the front plate, the Tortoise returned the favour and fired straight into the front plate, knocking the T-34 out with a single shot, and the huge British tank continued to move forward.

"Come on fire at that thing!" Alina shouted at the gunner of the KV-2, the gunner aimed and the entire tank shifted as the huge 152 mm gun fired in a large flash, the shell hit the Tortoise and exploded, but as the smoke cleared the only effect the round had was creating a soot patch on the right side of the Tortoise's front plate, the Tortoise stopped and aimed again, Nina panicked as she saw the gun, "look out!" she shrieked.

The KV-2 was hit on the left side of its large frontal turret plate, miraculously the shell didn't knock them out straight away, both Nina and Alina where coughing as the turret had been filled with smoke from the impact, Alina looked forward and saw her gunner out cold and slumped over the controls,

"Nina! The salts!" she shouted to her comrade, Nina immediately reached for a small med kit on the turret wall, and pulled out what looked like a small party popper, the KV-2 in the meantime lurched as the driver reversed, trying to get out of danger, Nina tossed the salt capsule to Alina, who caught it and pulled the gunner's head back, she positioned the capsule pointing up into the gunner's nostrils and then pulled a string on the base, the capsule emitted a popping sound and a miasmic gas seeped out and into the gunner's nose,

A few seconds later the gunner snapped awake, and coughed a bit while holding her nose, "ahh! My nose feels like it's on fire!" she complained, "come on we need you back on the gun" Alina confronted her while rubbing the gunner's shoulder, the gunner turned back to her position while still rubbing her irritated nose.

"That thing took a KV-2 shell to the face and its still going, it's like a bunker on tracks!" the T-44-100 commander panicked after witnessing the KV-2 shell, most of the Pravda tanks had pulled back to cover themselves behind the sand dune, as the Tortoise continued to move up the slope towards them, that word however just put an idea in Katyusha's head, "like a bunker" she said to herself, her gunner and radio operator looked at her, "that gives Katyusha an idea" she theorised, "what sort of idea?" Nonna asked, "we shall try and blow its tracks off, and then outflank it and shoot it in the side, just like what you do with a concrete bunker" Katyusha planned, "are you ready Nonna and Klara?" she then told her vice-commanders, "just a bit busy" the latter replied.

As the fighting had been going on, Rosehip had tried to flank around Pravda while they were distracted, but Klara had caught her in the act and was trying to engage,

Also, it was time for her to return a favour which Roship had given during their match against Ooarai and Chi-Ha-Tan.

Rosehip's Crusader continued to pull evasive manoeuvres, sliding from side to side in the sand as Klara's shots continued to land around them,

"Let's finish this, I'm removing the speed limiter, lets charge at them _desu wa!"_ Rosehip called out in excitement, "but commander, the engine could blow in this heat!" her driver called out, "trust me, it can take it" Rosehip dashed her concern,

The Crusader rocketed ahead as its limitations were removed, the tank did one wide slide as it turned towards Klara's T-34-85, Klara again fired a shot, but the shell landed off to the left side of Rosehip,

"Charge them down! Don't let up _desu wa!"_ Rosehip cheered as the engine was near breaking point, "we will have you an-" she began to add on,

The Crusaders engine suddenly exploded in a cloud of steam and locked up from overheating, the tank lurched and slid in a wild direction as the tracks also locked up, throwing Rosehip around in the turret, the Crusader after sliding sideways a few meters came to rest, however unable to move,

"Our engine just gave out!" her driver shouted, "hah! But where still in the game, thank you European rules!" Rosehip laughed, but her parade was cut short as the Crusader was hit by a final shell from Klara, finishing Rosehip off as the white flag came out of her turret.

" _Eto dlya moyego toplivnogo baka"_ Klara said to herself in pleasure.

Darjeeling, who's tank was still behind the small dunes with the rest of the Gloriana tanks, had witnessed Rosehips actions, she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head in shame, "is that Rosehip getting herself in trouble again?" Pekoe asked noticing her expression, "pretty much, when will she learn" the commander responded to the question, "commander, I can try and give some cover to the Tortoise if I move up" Nilgiri suggested, "I'm fine, this tank can take anything they throw at me!" Rukuriri retorted her fellow student,

At that point, Katyusha's T-34-85, as well as the KV-4 and ASU-85 had come over the edge, and where aiming their guns at the British assault tank, "aim for its left track!" Katyusha directed her teammates, "wait? Our left or their left?" the KV-4 commander said confused, Katyusha took a deep breath to prevent herself snapping, "our right, their left" she clarified, she looked down at her gunner, "well then, fire!" Katyusha barked, the gunner fired a shot at the track, but hit just to the left and hit the armour protecting the transmission, the KV-4 then fired a shot but it went right and missed the track entirely, the ASU's gunner aimed her shot carefully,

"Please hit" she said to herself and pulled the trigger, the gun fired the projectile and it hit the Tortoise's track dead on, breaking it and a metallic chatter ringed out as the track fell apart and lost tension,

"Commander! They destroyed our left track, where stuck!" the Tortoise's driver called up to Rukuriri, "damn it! Make sure they don't flank!" she shouted at the gunner, Nilgiri had overheard Rukuriri's situation, "I'm going up there to help commander" she notified Darjeeling, "you do that, all other tanks try your best to cover the Tortoise" Darjeeling responded,

The ASU-85 tried to get back in cover, also trying to turn around in the process, this however exposed its side and the Tortoise took advantage, the gun fired in its attempt to defend itself and hit the ASU, flipping it onto its roof from the harsh side impact, the white flag popping out of the exposed bottom plate.

At that moment, the KV-4 and Nonna's IS-2 came over the dune and rocketed down the slope, the Tortoise tried to train its gun to engage, but was too slow as the two Pravda tanks successfully got out of its gun arc, the other Gloriana tanks also started to fire at the two tanks, but their shots where mostly ineffective against the strong Russian steel of the tanks, Nonna came up to the left side of the hapless Tortoise, pointing the large 122 mm at the thinner side armour, Rukuriri broke down as she saw down the dark barrel.

"That's not fair!" she cried as Nonna delivered the shot, the assault tank lurched as the Russian shell hit the side, a white flag soon popped out the roof as the smoke cleared,

"Wait? They knocked out the Tortoise?" Darjeeling said with a shaky voice, seeing the sight in front of her, "they have! They flanked and shot it in the side!" Assam confirmed, the prized jewel in their crown had been shattered by the hammer of Pravda,

"Your orders commander?" Pekoe asked, Now that Pravda was outnumbering and now outgunning them, Darjeeling had come to the conclusion anyone else would, they had lost, and now it was the time to cut those losses.

"All tanks, the tides have turned against us and there seems to be no abating it, disengage and retreat" she commanded,

Katyusha witnessed as the Gloriana tanks started to turn and tried to retreat, "they're starting to flee commander" Nonna signalled, "they're running scared from Katyusha I see, all tanks move forward and crush as many of them as you can!" Katyusha barked,

Nilgiri was in the worst position, being caught between cover and the knocked out Tortoise, her driver desperately tried to turn around and get away from the Pravda tanks,

The gunner turned the six pounder gun and fired at the IS-2, the shell hit managed to hit the mantlet, but shattered and only put a dent in the metal, in return Nonna fired a shot which hit the rear drive wheel of the Valiant, destroying the transmission.

"The transmissions out commander!" the driver shouted up at the tanks refusal to move, Nilgiri was panicking as she looked in all directions, and to her left, she witnessed the T-44-100 lining up a shot,

The tank fired and hit the Valiant in the side of the turret, the shell went straight in and destroyed the crew compartment, taking Nilgiri out of the fight with the white flag popping out the top.

"That's another tank down" Katyusha called out to her fellow tanks, just as she witnessed the T-44-100 take a shot to the turret, she looked to see that the shot had come from the TOG II, which had positioned itself to cover the Churchill, Crusaders and Matilda's as they retreated, "hey, see that landship" she ordered her gunner, "I see it, opening up" her gunner replied, and fired a shell which hit the TOG just below the turret, but its large crew compartment took the hit, the 17 pounder fired back, and Katyusha cringed as she heard the shell scrape off the top of the mantlet,

Just as the radio operator threw another round into the breach, Katyusha felt something tug on her foot, she looked down and saw that her loader was conscious again and was trying to stand up, "you okay?" Katyusha asked concerned, "yeah, I think I'm alright" she replied, "you stay on the floor, don't want you passing out again" the commander said, the loader nodded and proceeded to sit back on the floor,

The TOG was proving to be problematic as it continued to sit half behind a sand dune, with only the front poking out as it continued to hurl shots at the Pravda vehicles, many of the Pravda tanks had stopped and where firing their guns, trying their hardest to hit the large British landship

One shell was able to hit the TOG in the front idler, breaking its track and preventing it from retreating, it in return fired back, and was able to hit and knock out one of the T-34-76's, the KV-4 then fired and hit the TOG in the left portion of its frontal turret armour, knocking out its gunner and rendering the tank helpless, it then also took another shot, this time from Klara's T-34-85, knocking out the engine in a cloud of smoke.

This left a shot open for Katyusha's gunner, who aimed and took the opening, the shell flew through the air and slammed straight into the side of the TOG, that shell was the end for the landship as it went up in a cloud of black smoke, once it abated, the white flag popped out of its turret,

"All tanks destroyed commander, should we chase after the other Gloriana tanks?" Klara posted and then asked, Katyusha thought for a second, but felt like they had done enough for today, and also the desert heat was getting back to her.

"No Klara, we've done enough against them, the tanks we knocked out will cost them in resources to retrieve and repair, we'll take the resources and get back to base, I think everyone's had enough of this heat right?" Katyusha spoke, "yeah" all the commanders of the remaining tanks said with tiredness in their voices, "well then, four tanks will grab a trailer each, and then we will head back to base via the access trail, hopefully we can get out of this heat before anyone else passes out" she directed.

The KV-4, IS-2, T-44-100 and Katyusha's T-34-85 had each picked up a trailer and had them attached to the rear of their tanks, also the Pravda crews from the tanks knocked out in the battle had abandoned their vehicles to the yet-to-appear recovery crews and had hopped onto any tank still running, mostly clambering on engine decks.

After resources and spare crew had been secured, the formation moved out, along the access trail which wound through the sandy environment, everyone was in high hopes, they had just fought against another school in the tournament and won, showing the might of Pravda even in these abnormal conditions,

But the desert heat started to set back in and the euphoria of the victory was worn away within a quarter of an hour, many of the crewmembers seem to not care much about the victory, now they just wanted to get out this damn desert.

A half hour of driving passed, and it was becoming dire for some of the crewmembers, Katyusha's loader who was still on the floor, had drank the last bit of water out of her water canteen, "commander, I just ran out of water" she spilled, "really? Damn, that's the only canteen Katyusha brought!" Katyusha replied surprised, now she was really getting worried, did they just bite off more than they could chew?

A few minutes down the trail, Klara whose tank was leading the formation, just turned a corner which went around a dune, upon coming out from behind the obstruction, she couldn't believe her eyes, to the right side of the trail was a patch of green grass and luscious palm trees, she rubbed her eyes as she thought she was seeing a mirage,

But it was real, they had just stumbled upon a oasis.

"Commander! There's an oasis here!" Katyusha heard Klara's gleeful cry over the waves, "really?" she fumbled on the radio in surprise, "yes! Follow me everyone!" Klara responded as her tank turned off the trail and towards the desert anomaly,

As Katyusha's tank, which was in the centre of the formation came around the dune, the commander herself saw the inviting green plants, with the Prava tanks in front making a b-line towards it "it is an oasis!" Katyusha burst, as her driver also turned off the trail,

Under the tracks, sand was replaced by green grass as the T-34-85 came to the centre of the oasis, many of the Pravda tanks started to park up on the edge of a reasonably sized water spring, the cool, pearl blue water being a massive eye-sore to the dehydrated school.

As the final Pravda tanks pulled up, Katyusha sat there on her cupola after taking her tanker's cap off her head, looking into the reflective pool, all the other Pravda students also sat looking at the inviting water, being mesmerised by its mere presence, "that water looks so appetizing", Nonna said on the top her IS-2 in a calm voice, "indeed it is Nonna, looks so refreshing" Klara responded, also in a calm state,

"Well come on guys! Let's enjoy it!" Nina called out in happiness,

"YEAH!" all the Pravda students cheered and they all started to clamber out of and off their tanks, Katyusha was surprised to see her own crew also do the same, some students started to take their clothes off as they stumbled towards the water and went into the water in their underwear, while others didn't even bother with that step and dived in still in their uniforms, Nina and Alina, whom the former had thrown her ushanka aside, where one of the first into the water with a splash, Nonna and Klara looked at each other still on top of their tanks, "ehh, why not" they both conceded, and began undressing.

Nonna and Klara soon came into the water in their swimwear, as many of the students where swimming and playing in the cool habitat, some were sweeping up the water in canteens and drinking the water to quench their thirst,

"This water is so nice!" one student said to another, "it so is! So cool and refreshing after being in that sweatbox" that student replied, suddenly, another student shot up from below the surface, with canteen high above her head, "this is the best operation ever!" she sang.

However, the girls in the water then slowly went silent, and turned back to the tanks as they realised Katyusha was still there, standing on the edge of the water looking at them all,

"Katyusha, why don't you join us?" Nonna cooed, "Katyusha doesn't want to get her uniform wet, hasn't Katyusha told you she doesn't have swimwear?" the commander bluntly replied, "come on commander it's so nice in this water!" Alina teased, but Katyusha held firm, "no! Katyusha isn't coming into the water" she snapped back, and then stomped her foot on the ground,

What she hadn't realised, was that the dirt she was standing on wasn't too stable being against the water's edge, that stomp ended up breaking the chunk of dirt she was standing on away from the edge and made it fall into the water,

"WAAAAHH!" Katyusha screamed at the top of her small voice, as she lost her footing and fell into the water with a large splash, all the other students watched as she then bobbed back up to the surface, soaked through as she spat a fountain of water out of her mouth, some of them sniggered trying to contain their humour,

"You okay commander?" Klara asked concerned, "NO! KATYUSHA FELL INTO THIS DAMN WATER! SHE'S SO SOAKED, AND SO MOIST…!" Katyusha cried at the top of her lungs, but her voice then started to trail off as she started to take in the water's pureness, "...and so cool, and so beautiful, and so refreshing" she finished off, now in a calm state, Nonna, Klara, Nina and Alina looked at her confused, "this water, IS SO AMAZING!" Katyusha then beamed in glee, everyone smiled to their commander's happiness, "well Katyusha, do you want to swim with us?" Nonna suggested, "sure!" the tiny tyrant replied happily.

The Pravda students spent the rest of the hour swimming and doing activities like Marco-Polo in the cool water of the oasis, the shouts of happiness and glee being among the sounds of the environment.

After that, everyone was seemingly relaxing, some of the students being against the edges, or floating in the centre, Nina and Alina being two of them, both floating together in the tranquillity.

At one of the edges where Katyusha, Nonna and Klara, all three laying nice and calm in the sun and cool water, Katyusha herself had seemingly fallen asleep, resting against Nonna's shoulder,

"Hey Katyusha, is it time we should get going back to base?" Nonna cooed gently, with Klara smiling to her commander's cuteness,

"Nah, just a few more minutes Nonna", Katyusha calmly replied, while wriggling next to her companion.

* * *

Translations

ya ne dumayu, chto ona ponimayet, kak zakonchilas' voyna = I don't think she realises how that war ended (Russian)

mozhet, ona khochet, chtoby u nas byla neudacha = Maybe she wants us to have bad luck (Russian)

eto dlya moyego toplivnogo baka = That's for my fuel tank (Russian)


	11. 山を登る - Up the Mountain

**Yes yes another delayed chapter, I was hoping to get a lot done over the holidays (BTW merry Christmas and a happy new year, despite it being late from me), but every time I sat down and tried to write something, literally nothing came out, so I took a break from this chapter and did some other things, one of these was create a few blogs on the Girls Und Panzer Fandom wiki to give more infomation on the Mann Und Grosskampf universe (I ain't going to bother putting a link up, as FanFiction will just remove it, but you should be able to find it if you look hard enough), anyways I have got the motivation back and I've been able to finish this chapter, just to finish, thank you for your patience and I hope I didn't lose too many of you.**

 **Also, I wanted to mention that I'm still looking for an Italian, Swedish and Romanian Translator (the latter in particular), so if you are fluent in any of these languages, please don't be afraid to send me a message offering you're services.**

 **And now, the reviews...**

 **1:** **Maybe in the next chapter can you have Morgan say something in Welsh that confuses the girls and Tom explaines that it's Welsh then Morgan says Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch which is real village and explaines that it holds the British record for the longest name which just leaves the girls stumped and even try to pronounce it to only fail.**

 **But still keep up the good work and hope to see more soon.**

 **Feedback taken and implemented ;-)**

 **2: Will there be lemons. So good chapter lot of effort I like it**

 **Now that is a good point, I am going to be keeping this main story T-rated, but if the time comes, I may write a few lemon chapters for some of the couples when they happen (forthe ones I feel comfortable with anyways) since I ain't a stranger to those kinds of scenes, I have written lemons for other projects in the past, I'll probably end** **creating a side OVA-style story which is M-rated and will contain these lemons, so keep you eye's out for that**

 **3: Great your back with another chapter and also great battle having Pravda and St Gloriana fight each other can't wait for more and that some of the tanks I listed have either appeared or will be in upcoming chapters and can't wait to see.**

 **Also I thank you once again for my suggestion although if some couldn't be made but still we're all looking forward for the side chapter.**

 **But still keep up the great work and see you soon.**

 **Thanks for the support!**

 **4:** **Nice, very nice. I hope to see Anzio next, with the tanks Anchovy has at her sleeves, will they stand a chance.**

 **They will have their time very soon, so you will see the shenanigans which happen with them :-)**

 **And here comes the next chapter...**

* * *

 **山を登る** **\- Up the Mountain**

Miho proceeded to lay the map of the area on the front of the Panzer IV, with Erwin, Azusa and Tom next to her, all under the afternoon sun, the entire Ooarai formation had stopped in a line by the right side of the dirt road they were travelling on, most of the crews were out and about taking a break after travelling for a while, with the tanks all parked in a line.

Where they were stopped was at the start of a large canyon, light grey cliffs towered up thousands of feet above the ground which levelled out to wrinkled plateaus on the top, all with huge fissures and narrow valleys flowing through the mass of rock like a branching river, with these canyon walls having small roads snaking along the rock, some smaller gashes had streams running through them which all conglomerated into a river at the valley floor.

"Ok, so where here, and the depot is up here on top of this high ridgeline on the western side" Miho pointed on the map, Erwin gave a closer look, "well we have two choices when it comes to access, you have this road which runs along the eastern side, its longer but has a lower gradient, or we can take the western road, gets us there sooner and it looks like it will hide our tanks better, but it's steeper and has more twists in it" she suggested, indicating with her finger, Miho thought for a second, "how well can our tanks climb up a slope?" she queried, "well our tanks should have no issue going up a steep gradient" Tom informed her, "but what about the B1 and Porsche Tiger?" Miho then brought up, "I'll go ask Nakajima and Sodoko if they're comfortable with the climb" Azusa then said, and walked off to inform the mentioned students,

Miho then was about to turn back to the map until there was the sound of a car approaching, she turned to see a Type 183 'Iltis' jeep driving towards them, coming on the road from the canyon, the black canvas roof covering the top of the vehicle, the jeep was coloured black and had a few ETA markings present on the bonnet and canvas doors, showing that it was a vehicle used primarily by the European officials, at first Miho though the jeep would rocket past them, but to her surprise, the jeep started to slow,

"Hey up what's this then?" Tom said as he turned to the jeep, the vehicle now rolling towards them, it stopped a foot away from Miho as the driver of the left-hand drive jeep then opened the plastic window flap,

She, along with Tom and Erwin came up to the door and where greeted with the presence of the three European judges,

The one who was driving was a boy who sat at 5' 4" tall, he had light skin with brown eyes and short, razor black hair, the person next to him was a girl who sat at 5' 5" tall, she had a larger than average bust and had light skin, she had a pair of hazel eyes and curly light brown hair, the third person in the back seat was also a girl who sat at 5' 1" tall and had a small bust, she had blue eyes and silver mid-length hair upon a light face,

They were also wearing the same uniforms, which consisted of a white shirt and black tie underneath a dark navy blue jacket, which had breast and jacket pockets with silver buttons, with an ETA badge attached to the left lapel, a white belt also went around the waist, with thin white shoulder straps coming off both sides and going up and over each shoulder, on the waist belt there where a multiple tools, such as a small pouch for holding small items, a walkie talkie, a small handheld signal lamp with small shutters for sending Morse code signals, pliers, a knife, small medical pouch and even a miniature crowbar on their backs, on their legs where dark navy blue trousers which went into a pair of black, leather, steel-toe boots, their head was covered by a black painted brodie helmet, with a white J painted on the forehead and a white stripe running down the middle

Miho also noticed they had small flags on their collars, the boy in the driver's seat had a Spanish flag, the girl next to him had a Bulgarian flag, while the girl in the back had an Estonian one.

By this dress state, they really were official

 _"Hola_ you three, how's everything here?" the male judge asked with a Spanish accent, "oh hi, where fine here Mr…" Miho then trailed off, not knowing the judges name, "Torbino" Tom then jumped in, helping Miho out, "oh sorry we didn't introduce ourselves, I'm Torbino Vàsques, the head judge, this woman next to me is Nikol Ivankov" Torbino began, "Hello!" Nikol then leaned across him and waved, "oh hi there!" Miho responded cheerfully, "and the one behind us is Leelo Kollikivi" the male judge added on, "hey" Leelo greeted with slight meekness in her voice, "nice to see you too" Miho replied with kindness, "so what where you all doing at the canyon if you don't mind me asking" Tom queried, "we were on the roads just checking their conditions, just to make sure that there wouldn't be a rock slide or anything like that, just for the safety of the participants" Torbino responded, "I see, have you met the Japanese judges yet?" Miho then asked in curiosity, "you mean Kanon, Remi and Hibiki?, yes we have met them and had a talk with them, have to say they ain't as open as us or our colleagues" Nikol addressed, "probably because they take their jobs very seriously, pretty much to the point of comedy" Erwin mentioned, "I see, well we have to get back to the tournament headquarters soon, so we have to go now, it was good talking to you" Torbino began to part, "ok, see you some other time" Miho returned, Torbino closed the plastic flap and accelerated, the jeep began to move again and continued on its way on the dirt road.

"Well they're nice to talk to" Miho praised, "yeah, unlike the JSF judges, they are a bit more sociable" Erwin agreed, "well don't think you can try and get them on your side, for them, duty still comes above everything else" Tom mentioned, both Miho and Erwin gave him an innocent look, "of course" Miho said covering up a cheeky idea she just had,

"That's all you got?" Noriko breathed as she skidded from side to side on the road, she and the rest of Duck team where having a break in their own way, and that was a game of volleyball, using the Type 89 as a makeshift net, Akebi was on her side, while Shinobu and Taeko where on the over side,

Taeko hit the ball sending it flying over to the other side, Noriko watched as Akebi did an underhand hit, bouncing the ball off her wrist and back over the tank, Shinobu jumped up high into the air and hit the ball back down,

Noriko saw the ball going full speed towards her, she put her hand up and lined up her return,

"Hyaa!" she exclaimed as she hit the ball back, however it didn't act in her intentions, the ball hit the side of the Type 89's cupola and bounced at a right angle to the left, "shoot!" Noriko cursed to her mistake,

The ball came down and bounced off the roof of the Panzer IV's turret, leading to a confused Hana sticking her head out of the side hatch in curiosity to the sound, however the volleyball, still with lots of energy, kept flying over the commanders at the front of the Panzer IV and straight towards the Kranvagn, Erik who was in the cupola reading a book suddenly noticed the ball coming towards him in the corner of his vision,

 _"Vad i helvete?"_ he yelped as he dove into the turret to avoid getting hit, the ball hit the front of the turret below and due to the slope of the metal, caused the ball to bounce straight up into the air, it lost momentum and came back down, hitting the metallic barrel sleeve and bouncing back up, but it was clear the ball had lost most of its energy at this point, it continued to bounce more softly and with less impotence along the gun barrel, and near the end calmed to a roll until it finally came to rest on top of the Kranvagn's muzzle break.

Duck team ran over to the front of the Kranvagn as Erik came back out of his hidey-hole, "oh sorry for that Erik" Noriko apologised, "sheesh, you volleyball girls really know how to shoot a curve ball you know that?" Erik replied in surprise, he then noticed the volleyball just on the end of the gun, "let me get that for you" he smiled as he went back into the turret, the turret then depressed and the gun went down with it, the ball rolled off the end of the muzzle break and Shinobu catched it in her arms,

Erik appeared again out of the turret, "who was the one who fired that ball?" he questioned in curiosity, Akebi, Taeko and Shinobu all took a step away from Noriko, leaving her singled out, "really guys?" she whined, "why are you afraid? I thought that was a good shot from you" Erik calmed her, surprising the Duck team commander, "wait, you're not mad at me for almost hitting you with that ball?" she seeked clarification, "even if I was, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was impressed" he responded, Noriko smirked, "well you should see how we play on a regular basis, maybe even teach you a few things" she suggested, "I'll be glad to watch, but I'll pass on the training for now" he returned, "ok, no problem" she replied in kind,

Noriko was really starting to like this guy

Caesar was walking over to the Standard B, curious to what the Italian Lupo team were doing, she came around the front of the vehicle and saw three of the four boys lounging around near the rear, left side of the vehicle, Alberico was the first to notice her presence, _"Caesar, come stai?"_ he greeted in his language, "I'm fine Alberico, what have you been doing" she responded in English, at that point, Hugo came from around the rear of the tank, "just doing some track tensioning work, you know, gritty maintenance stuff" he answer her query, "yeah, I think Hugo and Alberico got some dirt on them" Alfonso mentioned, "dirt? I didn't get any on me because I'm careful with maintenance unlike you Salvatore" Alberico retorted Alfonso's statement, "I think you had some on your bare arm" Hugo then revealed, _"cosa?"_ Alberico responded confused, rolling his sleeve up to check,

There was a reason they called Hugo the joker of Lupo team.

He grabbed Alberico's bare arm and gave him a large Chinese burn, Alberico yelped to the pain and whipped his arm away, both Alfonso and Floriano laughed to his reaction, "what the hell was that for?" Alberico complained, but Hugo was too busy laughing to reply, but Caesar wasn't amused, "hey, that wasn't nice of you" she argued at Hugo, who had managed to stop laughing, "come on _signora_ it wasn't that bad, nobody has a problem right?" he defended himself, Caesar took a deep breath to give him a taste of her wrath...

 _"beh, al momento hai un grosso problema con me stesso, pensi davvero di poterlo fare al mio amico senza conseguenze?!..."_ she began, raising her voice in anger at him and getting close to his face, also throwing hand gestures around to really get the point across, Hugo leaned back as he now had an unnerved look on his face

 _"...Ti dirò al Duce! non che nessuno, recitando Duce ad Anzio! il vero Duce! Lo stesso Mussolini! e perseguiterà la tua anima terrona fino alla fine dei giorni! vuoi quel mio amico?!"_

Caesar finished, giving him a death glare right into his eyes, with him in shock that he had just been schooled by a Japanese girl speaking his own language as well as he did,

After a while he finally conceded, _"mi dispiace"_ he apologised, shaking a hand and finger to the side, Caesar gave him space again and whipped her fingers in front of and across her face, _"perfecto"_ she finished still in a mad tone, and proceeded to turn and walked away, as gave a smile to Alberico as she walked past, the three boys then looked at Hugo who just shrugged, _"lei è pazza"_ he jeered, rubbing a finger against the side of his head, Alberico had a smirk on his face, "when the joker gets a firm telling off" he joked in English, "whatever Badoglio" Hugo sassed in return, with Alfonso and Floriano grinned to his embarrassment.

Back at the Panzer IV, Tom had been greeted by Nelson and Morgan, with the former presenting a metal mug full of tea, "oh thanks Nelson" Tom thanked, taking the mug off him, "well that looks nice" Miho complimented the beverage, "is that fresh out of the BV?" she then heard Yukari's voice, she looked and saw the fluffy had stuck her head out of the left side turret hatch, with Hana next to her, also, Mako and Saori had also just come back from having a walk around as they came back up to Miho,

"Yeah, we have a boiling vessel in our tank, every British tank is supposed to have one, right?" Tom responded, as Yukari and Hana also got out of their tank and went next to Miho "yep, standard on every British tank since the world wars, can't fight a war without our precious tea, can't we?" Nelson mentioned, "as us Welsh say, _Mae tegell yn ferwi and ty'n barod"_ Morgan finished.

However, those words he said had the girls confused, like he had just spoken a load of gibberish, "umm, sorry what did you just say Colwyn-san?" Saori asked for clarification, "it's the Welsh language, spoken mostly in the western parts of Wales Miss Takebe" Nelson cared to explain, "really? Didn't know that there were any other languages other than English in the British Isles" Hana said surprised, "is it a difficult language to understand?" Miho then queried, Morgan smiled, "well if you want an extreme example, then I have one for you right here" he revealed, he then took a deep breath…

"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"

All the girls upon hearing that now had disbelief plastered over their faces, "umm, sorry what?" Saori gasped in confusion, "sorry but it sounded like you just spoke a lot of gibberish" Yukari confessed, "it does sound like I just said a bunch of random words, but that's the actual name of a town in the north of Wales, on the south end of the island of Anglesey" Morgan clarified, "sheesh that's crazy, how do you Welsh even do pronounce that properly?" Saori wondered, "well how about you give it a go?" Tom suggested, slowly, many of the girls except for Mako tried their hand at pronouncing the town's name, but they only managed a garbled mess of sounds as the boys sniggered at their appalling attempt

"...drobbely-anty-say-goo-ga-gough?" Yukari finished,

"...droobly-say-ti-a-gou-gou-gah?" Saori tried,

"...dribbly-ant-si-ti-ga-googly-goo?" Miho's try was a train wreck,

And this was the one which broke it, the boy's lost it and burst out laughing, Tom and Morgan where laughing their heads off, almost spilling their tea, while Nelson was more composed managing a heavy chuckle,

The girls just blushed in embarrassment, "well we at least tried" Hana said meekly, "yeah I'll give you that, but being honest, I've never seen anyone successfully pronounce it properly in one go on their first try, it really needs practice and a lot of spare time on your hands" Morgan revealed…

"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"

Those words brought out surprise in the girls and shock in the boys, they turned to Mako who had just said the name perfectly and in one go, the pleasure on Morgan's face had been wiped clean off and he almost dropped his metal tea mug in pure shock,

"What? How did you do that in one go?" He asked, Mako just shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno, I just visualised the word in my head and just said it" she tried to explain, Morgan gave a small smile, "well you're the first I've ever seen to say the name properly on the first go, that just shows you're a really smart girl ya know?" He then praised with a smirk, Mako, through her tired persona, managed a smile back at him,

"You all finished with your cultural exchanges and funny words?" Erwin said behind them, Miho had forgotten that her vice-commander was there as she turned around, as Erwin was leaning on the front-right mud flap on the Panzer IV, Azusa was also next to her after coming back, "umm, just asked Nakajima and Sodoko about the route, their okay with it commander" the Rabbit commander informed, "okay then, so the steeper route it is then I guess Miho?" Tom said, "huh? Yeah of course, well let's get everyone back in their tanks and let's get going again" Miho confirmed Tom's words,

After all the crews had gotten back into their respected tanks, and the obligatory 'Panzer Vor' had been called out by Miho, the Ooarai formation got going again, down the dirt track towards the canyon, after the long straight road, the tanks crossed over a stone bridge which went over the small river which came out of the canyon mouth,

The formation soon came up to a fork in the road, Miho instructed Sodoko, who was at the front of the pack to go up the left road, which she complied, leading the formation up the shorter and steeper of the two routes,

The grey rock walls of the canyon started to rise on the left side of the road, and the road itself started to tilt against them as the gradient increased, a signpost at one point showed the gradient at twenty percent, Miho could now start to hear the engines struggle as they tried to push their respected tanks up the incline,

At some points on the route, the road would make a tight, one-hundred and eighty degree turn and travel back on itself, these turns put even more stress on the tanks as they tried to turn on a stopped track,

The formation had slowed down rather considerably, not just because of the harsh stresses on the tanks themselves, but also the fact that Mallard team was in front,

"Could you drive any slower Mallard?" Morgan said irritated over the radio as Falcon was stuck behind them, "this is as fast as we can go! I've got the throttle wide open!" Moyoko squealed as she had her foot to the floor, the noise within the B1 was unbearable due to the door to the engine compartment being open, which Nozomi soon closed as she saw the irritation present in the atmosphere,

Azusa, who had been put in charge in navigation looked at her map, Aya and Saki also had their eyes on the paper in curiosity, "I thought the gradient on this road was less steep" she stuttered slightly as she double checked her route, "Miss Sawa, have you heard of the saying that the most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass?" She then heard Nelson quote over the radio, Azusa sat there confused, " _ai_ -what's that supposed to mean?" Karina said up from her position confused, "I dunno" Ayumi replied uncertain, "if you're confused by that Azusa he's quoting another one of Murphy's military laws, number sixty-three if I'm correct" Tom then clarified over the radio,

"Seriously, Richards-san really talks like Darjeeling" Aya theorised, "maybe they're related or something like that" Yukki added on, "well I wouldn't go that far, remember that he's British while Darjeeling's Japanese" Azusa dismissed that theory, "well one can theorise right?" Yukki finished.

In Hippo team's StuG, a slight ominous knocking sound had started in the engine compartment as the engine was working hard, Caesar was the first to notice the abnormal sound, "hey Erwin, you hear that knocking noise?" She asked her commander, Erwin turned and listened, Saemonza had also turned her head in curiosity, "yeah, I can hear something as well" the commander confirmed, "should I stop?" Oryou said from the front hearing about the problem, "no let's keep going" Erwin dismissed the concerns.

However, as they continued to drive, the knocking noise seemed to get worse and worse, as the formation was now in the shadow of the large cliffs, going through the odd, short rock tunnel at times, smoke started to come out of the vents, Anteater noticed this smoke,

"Erm, Hippo you've got smoke coming out of your tank" Nekota warned Erwin at the sight, "what? Do we?" the Hippo commander remarked in surprise as she looked behind her, and she saw black smoke coming out of the vent holes, "we have an issue Oryou, could you…"

As Erwin was instructing Oryou to stop, the grating sound of something breaking in the engine resonated in the compartment, the engine stopped suddenly, and the tank lurched as it came to a halt,

The smell of burnt oil filled the cabin as the crew signed heavily, "well, there goes our engine" Oryou sombred, Erwin reached back for her radio, "this is Hippo team our engine just failed" she murmured over the waves,

Miho exclaimed as she looked behind her to see an ominous plume of smoke, "all tanks stop!" She ordered, Mako and the rest of the drivers of the team hit the brakes on their vehicle and the entire formation came to a halt, "what's happened?" Tom asked in confusion over his radio, "Hippo's having issues from what I hear" Erik voiced his opinion,

Erwin opened the rear engine deck of her StuG, to be greeted with a cloud of black smoke in her face, she coughed as she felt the oily miasma burn her throat slightly, she stared at the smoking engine block and examined the damage, "well this is gonna require some effort to fix" she jeered at the sight, "should we do combat repairs on it?" Saemonza queried, "well the issue with that would be we would only get it running barely, and it could just break again when we start driving, especially on this road with this gradient" Caesar pointed out,

Then Miho, Tom and Nakajima came rushing from the front of the formation, "you guys okay?" Miho asked concerned, "yeah where fine, but our engine's shot" Oryou returned, "we could fix it ourselves but it would just break again" Saemonza continued, "well if you can get it to a new spot, we can fix it right up for you" Nakajima chirped, "really, that's great" Erwin smiled, "yeah but it may take some time for us to do our job, so you may want to tow this thing to somewhere flat" Nakajima then mentioned scratching her head, "I think I have a solution for that" Tom revealed, he turned to the Standard B in front of the StuG, "oi! Alfonso!" he shouted, and the Lupo commander stuck his head out of cupola, _"sì?"_ he asked, "you want to tow Hippo's StuG?" Tom suggested, "of course, I wouldn't leave the glorious vice-commander behind wouldn't I?" He smiled, Erwin predictably blushed to that comment.

"Damn he's such a tease" a thought went through her head.

Hugo hopped out of the turret hatch and onto the ground, he then grabbed a single cable off the side of the Standard B, he walked over to the back of the vehicle and hooked it onto one of the hooks on the rear armour, Alfonso helped as they dragged the cable to the front of the StuG and put it through one of the eyelets, Tom watched them do their thing as he stood next to the StuG's left fender,

With the cable secure, the two Italians got back onto their tank, at this point, Saori, Hana, Ronald, Noriko and Nelson had come over next to Miho and Nakajima to watch the spectacle, "you two good now?" Tom asked, " _sì_ , where ready to begin towing" Alfonso announced from the cupola of his tank,

"I don't think that cable will be enough" Ronald revealed, "what makes you say that?" Saori queried, "my natural Scottish engineer senses are tingling" he smirked,

"Ok, go forwards" Tom ordered, the Standard B began to drive, taking the slack out of the cable, he then looked to Erwin who was in the commander's hatch, "well we should be moving again soon…" Tom began to say, as he turned and began to walk to the back of the StuG,

Without warning, there was the defining sound of the tow cable suddenly snapping, everyone recoiled away from the vehicles as the two halves of the sheared metal rope snapped back, Tom himself in a panic threw himself to the floor,

The Standard B came to a sudden stop as everyone regained their composure, "ahh, i-is everyone alright?" Miho stammered in concern, Tom stood back up with a hand up, "I'm alright, not missing anything" he confirmed, "told ya that cable wasn't enough" Ronald told, Tom looked at him silly, "you knew? Then why didn't you say anything?" He asked, the Scot just shrugged his shoulders, however Tom then noticed where the cable half which was connected to the StuG had landed, it had snapped back around the left fender, where he was once standing,

"Bloody hell… SALVATORE!" The Falcon commander yelled in anger, Alfonso poked his head out of his cupola, "what happened?" he responded, "how about you use your bloody eyes!" Tom shouted, Alfonso saw the broken cable, "damn the cable" he remarked, "never mind the sodding cable if I was stood there for a second longer that cable would've taken my head off!" Tom continued to fume, after a small silence, Erwin spoke, "geez calm down Tom" she tried to defuse, "well how can I when my life could've been ended right there?" he continued to spout, but he took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself, "okay, how about you grab two more cables?" he then asked politely, "sure, we have a cable on the Porsche Tiger, and I think I also saw a cable on the Kranvagn, if Erik is fine with us using it" Nakajima pointed out, "ok, you go do that" Miho accepted,

Nakajima and Hoshino dragged over the cable which had been on their Porsche Tiger, Knugen and Jörgen followed up dragging along their cable, both parties hooked their cables onto the back of the Standard B and put them through the corresponding eyelets on the StuG, both groups making sure the cables were secured tightly,

"Ok, we should be good now!" Nakajima shouted over to Miho, the two groups moved out of the way, "ok, forwards, slowly!" Tom ordered, putting a lot of emphasis on that last word, the Standard B revved its engine and slowly moved forwards, the slack was taken out of the cables and everyone moved back in uncertainty,

"Are you sure that cables strong enough?" Miho said concerned, "come on, our cable is made from the strongest Swedish steel, very good stuff" Knugen reassured, "you sure about that?" Miho continued, "well let me just say that the iron our steel is made from is why the Germans invaded our neighbour Norway during the war, they couldn't get enough of it" the Swede continued to boast.

the StuG then slowly shifted and started to move forwards with the Standard B, the cables taking the strain easily, with everyone sighing in relief, "good, looks like where back on the move again" Miho smiled, "yeah, let's just hope no one else loses a limb before we get to where we need to go" Tom added on, still a bit miffed.

The formation continued up the road, the road's gradient still not abating, the Standard B now had to work even harder as it pulled the StuG up behind it, "the engine sounds like it's going to leap out of our tank" Alberico said concerned, "don't worry, it'll be fine, trust me" Alfonso disregarded the concerns, "whatever, since you're doing this for your new girlfriend" Hugo jested, "who? You mean Erwin? No, no, no, at least not yet, all of that was just me being willing to help the vice-commander" Alfonso defended himself, "I would be lying to myself if I believed you were telling the truth, knowing you in the past Alfonso, remember when you got kicked in between the legs by the big-busted subordinate back at Campania?" Floriano brought up, "what? just because I said I wanted to take her to a balloon festival and see how full her 'balloon's' where?" the commander remarked, Alberico and Hugo let out a painful sigh just remembering that cringy pick up line, "whatever, what I'm suggesting is that 'if' you have interest in Erwin, don't make us look like idiots, and please don't treat her as some kind of throw-away doll" Alberico coaxed, _"sì, sì,_ of course, you thought I wouldn't treat her as a real woman?" Alfonso reassured, and gave a small smile to himself,

As for him, Erwin would be different compared to the other girls he's had in the past as a womanizer.

Finally, after a few more minutes of driving, and turning a few more corners and going over a hump, the formation ended up in a rest area, the dirt road gave way to a large, flat dirt parking area in the shave of a rectangle, the only structure in the area being a small, grey brick building with a red tiled roof, a map on a billboard was also present next to it,

All the tanks parked up one by one, with the Standard B leaving the StuG on the other side to them, the crews of both tanks got out and unhooked the cables, with that, the Standard B drove off and parked with the rest of the formation,

Erwin who was sat on the hatch opening of her tank then noticed Leopon team walking over with toolboxes, "you needed an engine fix?" Nakajima asked joyfully, "sure, you go do your thing, you'll do it much better than us that's for sure" Erwin happily noted, Nakajima then noticed the cables, "oh, before I forget, Tsuchiya, you go drag our cable and put it back on our tank, I'll take Elk teams cable and give it back to them, Hoshino and Suzuki, you start work on the engine" she planned out, "sure thing" Hoshino replied.

As Leopon worked hard on Hippo's StuG, many of the members of the team where going around and doing other things, Anteater for example where on the edge of a rock and taking pictures of the awe-inspiring canyon, the public morals committee was trudging around making sure everyone was behaving, and Rabbit team where practicing a few survival skills, with Jörgen looking on in interest,

Turtle team and Erik where looking out into the depths of the canyon, the opposite wall towering in the distance, they were stood at the point where the road they had been traveling on went into the rest area, Anzu had grabbed a pair of binoculars and was surveying the landscape, "seriously, I don't feel comfortable sitting around here, something could just come along and catch us" Momo complained with uncertainty while acting restlessly, "can you find any time to relax Momo-chan?" Yuzu cooed, Erik sniggered to that name, "Momo-chan, what sort of nickname is that?" he questioned, Momo predictably blew a gasket, "DON'T YOU START CALLING ME THAT!" she thunderously yelled in his face, with Erik jumping back from her outburst, Momo turned back to Anzu while Yuzu came close to him, "it's a nickname I gave her, just to tease her" she explained,

"Hold it you guys!" Anzu then interrupted, she had her binoculars fixed on the small road which hugged along the opposite cliff, which was the other route which was an option for their group, and on the road was a different convoy of tanks, "hey Koyama, get Nishizumi and her team over here, looks like we may have a fight on our hands" Anzu instructed,

Yukari counted the number of tanks there where in the enemy convoy with Anglerfish and Turtle team's watching behind her, she immediately saw that the vehicles were Jinzōno tanks due to their colour scheme and the kanji letters on their turrets,

"I can see a BT-7, a FCM 36, two Carro L6's, a Char D1, Panzer I, D.W.2, MS-1, T7 Combat Car, two Ha-Go's and an AMX 38" she identified the vehicles from the front of the convoy to the rear, "they don't look so tough to me, I think we can take them out quickly and easily" Miho voiced her opinion, "well should we even fight them commander?" Yuzu questioned, seemingly wanting to avoid a fight, "well that road goes all the way around and to where we are right now, we either have to fight them now or later" Saori pointed out, "ok, looks like we have to take them on now, by the looks of it they haven't noticed us yet, so this is what where going to do.." Miho said and then began to formulate a plan.

Miho had decided to line up their functioning tanks at the entrance of the rest area, facing into the canyon and towards the enemy tanks, many of Ooarai's tanks had formed themselves side-by-side, from left to right sat the FV4005, Panzer IV, Standard B, B1 bis, Hetzer, Type 89, M3 Lee, Chi-Nu and Kranvagn, the last tank being up on a small ridge and making use of its large amount of gun depression,

Anzu, who was sitting in her tank commander hatch then heard something clamber onto the back of her Hetzer, she turned to see Erwin pulling herself onto the back of the tank, "should you be back helping with the repairs?" Anzu questioned, "nah, I want to see this fire show happen" the vice-commander smirked back.

"Okay listen up everyone" Miho broke in over the radio, "we're going to try and take out that Jinzōno convoy as fast and swiftly as we can, my tank will shoot at the lead tank and knock it out, after that, I want Falcon to shoot the rear vehicle, with them all blocked in, Elk and Lupo will then empty their magazines into the formation and take out as much as they can, finally, the rest of us will take care of any stragglers left behind, is that understood?" she then described, "that's okay with us commander" Tom responded, "sure commander- _nyaa"_ Nekota added on, "that's a good plan commander, where ready when you are" Azusa finished.

With those confirmations, Miho when down into her turret and looked at her turret crew, "AP round is loaded and ready Nishizumi-dono" Yukari chirped, "ok Hana, fire at will" Miho notified her gunner,

Hana silently trained the gun onto the BT-7 at the front of the convoy, using her knowledge of Striche units to calculate the distance, once she had a clear shot, she pulled the trigger, sending out a round from the blast of the gun,

The round sailed over the gap of the canyon and hit its mark, slamming straight into the side of the Russian light tank, the hatch on the roof blew open as black smoke billowed out the turret, the tank ground to a halt as a white flag popped out the turret,

"There goes the lead tank, Nelson, it's your turn now" Tom pointed out as the enemy formation came to a halt, Nelson already had the gun set and ranged on the AMX 38, "don't have to tell me twice" he resounded as he pulled the trigger on the gun,

The humongous bang of the FV's gun resonated through the canyon, the large round flew and exploded on the side of the AMX, throwing it and slamming it against the cliff wall, the hull came to rest across the road on its side with a white flag hanging out the turret,

Now it was the turn of the autoloaders, the Kranvagn and Standard B both started to empty their magazines at the formation, the shells randomly hitting in the general area of the enemy tanks, the Standard B was the first to finish its magazine of three rounds, then the Kranvagn finished its four rounds in the drum,

This barrage had kicked up a lot of dust, which had obscured the Jinzōno formation, once the dust had cleared, most of the tanks had been disabled from the bombardment, but the FCM 36, D1 and D.W.2 where still operational, and they were trying to turn their guns towards the Ooarai threat,

"Three tank's still operational! Finish them off!" Miho shouted to her team, the B1 bis and Type 89 shot at the FCM 36, the first shot bounced from the Type 89 and B1, but the shot from the B1's hull-mounted 75 mm went straight through the side of the French tank, knocking it right out, "good shot Myoko!" Sodoko congratulated her driver as Nozomi loaded another round

At the same time, the D1 came under fire from the M3 Lee and Chi-Nu, the Lee fired both its guns, the 75 mm missed, but the 37 mm hit and jammed the turret ring, a few moments later, the Chi-Nu fired, and managed to hit the side of the D1, putting it out of commission,

The last tank left was the D.W.2, and the Hetzer had it in its sight's, there was just one problem though,

Momo was on the gun,

"I have you now!" she sneered as her hands trembled on the controls, with an evil smirk and a fountain of confidence she pulled the trigger, the gun fired a projectile, which proceeded to fly straight over the D.W.2, missing it by a mile and hitting the rock's above it,

Everyone who was watching let out a sigh to that embarrassing display, "you seriously missed that?" Tom berated from his cupola, "who let the PR manager on the gun again?" Noriko jeered, "well I can see you still can't aim Momo" Erwin teased through the open commander hatch, Anzu had a nervous smile while Momo was shaking and fuming, "YOU CAN SHUT UP!" she blasted at the vice-commander from the tank's insides,

"Hold it!" Yuzu suddenly said witnessing something through her driver's viewport, the rocks which Momo had hit where starting to come apart with a stony crackle, small pebbles and dust rolled down the cliff face, then some large rock's gave way, falling down onto the road below, the D.W.2 was caught in the rockslide, and a large boulder slammed down upon the vehicle, crushing the front and breaking the suspension, a white flag soon popped out the turret to the vehicles unexpected demise,

"Whoa, I take back everything I said" Tom said in shock upon seeing the display, Noriko was also in a similar state of shock, Momo came up through the other hatch and gave a smug look to Erwin who had the smile wiped off her face, "pff, that was just luck" she scoffed in disappointment, "well she still took the tank out didn't she?" Anzu asked, "yeah, whatever" Erwin conceded,

"All Jinzōno tanks are down, good work everyone, but Momo, I think it's best you stay off the gun, we don't really need cliff's coming down round us" Miho congratulated and then suggested over the radio, Momo grimaced to this as Erwin then burst out laughing, "seriously!?, I pull off one of the best shots and I'm told to get off the gun?" Momo fumed, "I thought that shot was pretty cool Momo-chan" Yuzu tried to comfort, "yeah, I thought that was cool too" Anzu added on,

"Well ain't this an interesting pair we volunteered with?" Tom said back down into his tank's turret, "I couldn't agree with you more after witnessing that amazing display commander" Nelson returned as Ronald and Douglas were working on reloading the gun.

However unbeknownst to Ooarai, was that someone else had witnessed their destruction of the Jinzōno force.

* * *

If you need help trying to say the unpronounceable Welsh town, here it is broken down:

Llan–fair–pwll–gwyn–gyll–go–ger–ych–wyrn–drob–wll–llan–ty–silio–go–go–goch

* * *

Translations

Vad i helvete? = What the hell? (Swedish)

Come stai? = How are you? (Italian)

Cosa? = What? (Italian)

Signora = Lady (Italian)

Beh, al momento hai un grosso problema con me stesso, pensi davvero di poterlo fare al mio amico senza conseguenze ?! Ti dirò al Duce! non che nessuno, recitando Duce ad Anzio! il vero Duce! Lo stesso Mussolini! e perseguiterà la tua anima terrona fino alla fine dei giorni! vuoi quel mio amico ?!

= Well you currently have a massive problem with myself, you really think you can just do that to my friend with no consequence?! I'll tell on you to the duce! not that nobody, acting duce in Anzio! the real duce! Mussolini himself! and he will haunt your terroni soul to the end of days! do you want that my friend?! (Italian)

Mi dispiace = I'm sorry (Italian)

Perfecto = Perfect (Italian)

Lei è pazza = She's crazy (Italian)

Mae tegell yn ferwi and ty'n barod = The kettles boiling and I'm ready (Welsh)


	12. 巨人の肩での戦い- Btl On The Shoulders Of Giants

**Well, this is a massive farce...**

 **I must start with a thousand apologies for this chapter taking so long, its even more embarrassing in the fact I made a new-year's promise to get at least one chapter out every month, well that went to pot didn't it?**

 **So! a quick run down of what's happened in my gap of fanfiction work...**

 **\- My Birthday happened in March (*Party noise maker sound*)**

 **\- I went down to the Bovington Tank Museum as a Birthday present, and got to see the FV4005 in the real steel (I posted pictures up on my accounts blog on the GuP wiki)**

 **\- I finished my college year in June, so now I finally have free time ... and I'm trying really hard to not just waste it on gaming.**

 **\- I hit a spat of depression from old internet memories coming up to haunt me, kinda delayed this chapter coming out, I'm over it now so don't worry**

 **and yes, you know the time, its time for the reviews...**

 **1: An enjoyable read; looking forward to more.**

 **I'm glad you enjoyed it :-)**

 **2: Once again you did great job on this chapter loved the interactions between the characters plus I thank you for taking my feedback into account and putting it in this chapter also who was watching them during the battle can't to see.**

 **Also I had look on your blog on the fandom wiki and while I love it there was one thing that got me when I read at Tom profile it sounds similar to Miho on how they both use to do Tankery then they stopped cause of a past incident then and there pushed back into it when something threatens to shut down something important to them.**

 **Also will Toms past be brought up in a future chapter or will be brought up by Shiho when she interrogates Tom but still that's up to you and hope to see more in the future.**

 **I do want to flesh out the European characters a bit more, and I've done that through my blog on the GuP wiki, past incidents will arise again in the story at a certain point, I will also mention that Erik and Alfonso have past's of their own, but I'll leave those for later.**

 **3: ayy good chapter, the girls quite fast attaching with the boys, quite Understandable because they're from all-girls school, and I'm feeling it too since I'm from all-boys boarding school.**

 **expect more long range action, like Sturmtiger or hummel, or more modern howitzer like m109 or AMX mk61 (and there is a lot of post ww2 closed cabin SPG to choose for), or even MLRS like Calliope/whizbang or BM-8-24 since they aren't guided missile like ATGM and still capable for disabling tank and not to mention disturb enemy formation and strike enemy morals.**

 **see you next battle, comrade.**

 **I am glad that I seem to be nailing the reaction of the girls to the male presence in the team, thank you for the insight! I've also been considering rocket's but for now I don't really see them fitting into the project at this very time, (there was also a conversation on these vehicles on the GuP wiki, and their effectiveness is doubted by the experts on the wiki) but hey, I do have vehicles like these on the back-burner, maybe they will appear at some point in the future as a novelty, I don't know.**

 **two more things, I've also made changes to the uniforms of the boys, now they are more historically correct with Bovington wearing khaki, Gotland wearing forest green and Campania wearing black, also Alfonso was raised to 5' 3" to make him more inline with the other commanders.**

 **And finally, a shoutout to Sharkycast for providing proofreading of this chapter (find him on FanFiction hint hint), and also the 'FanFictions' discord for providing me a place to vocalise my thoughts and ideas for the project,**

 _ **Oh shut up**_ _ **Kwarduk**_ _ **and let us read the chapter already!**_

 **Oh yeah, sorry, I'll shut up now, here it is...**

* * *

 **巨人の肩での戦い** **\- Battle On The Shoulders Of Giants (Ooarai vs. Anzio)**

Anchovy watched the column of black smoke through her binoculars, while sat on the cupola of her green-coloured P43 bis, she and her team where positioned at a high point to the south of the supply depot, compared to Ooarai who were towards the north,

The Duce then brought down her binoculars, "It seems we are not alone in this canyon" she said to her teammates, she turned to the rest of her team.

Due to all the new vehicles which Anzio had acquired, the crews of some of the vehicles were changed around a bit, since Anchovy was now the commander of the P43 bis, Carpaccio had been moved into the commander's seat of the Carro P26 along with the rest of her crew, her Semovente da 75/18 was taken over by Panettone,

The first of the two yellow Saharianos had been put under the command of Amaretto, despite having her driver replaced and having new vehicles on the table, Pepperoni had decided to stick with her CV.33, the second Sahariano therefore was given to Gelato.

Among these tanks were Anzio's normal inventory, three more CV.33s backed up Pepperoni's; there was also a second Semovente da 75/18, Anzio had even been able to bring along two of their M13/40's to bolster their numbers.

In the end, Anzio had four CV.33s, two M13/40's, two Saharianos, two Semovente da 75/18s, a single Carro P26, and their main command vehicle, the Carro P43 bis.

"So what's the plan _nee-san?"_ Pepperoni called her commander by the nickname she gave, resting her head on her hand and giving a smile from her CV.33s hatch, "well the terrain in this area won't allow us too much movement, we should push up with caution and make use of these mountains as best we can" Anchovy set out, "roger that Duce" Carpaccio smiled. " _Avanti!"_ Anchovy shouted with the flick of her riding crop, her P43 bis lurched forward as her driver stepped on it, the rest of the Anzio formation followed,

The tanks drove in a line formation down the gravel road, making a sweeping right turn, Anchovy consulted her map, the road would continue its sweeping right turn, then it would make a wide left.

In the inside of this turn was a T-junction, with a road coming off and going up to the hill where the supply depot was located, with the road itself being lower compared to the hill and being sunken into the rock, having raised rocky slopes to each side,

Meanwhile, to the north, Ooarai had started to move again, Duck, Falcon and Rabbit team were moving in a small column, ahead of the rest of the team, aiming to get to the junction and secure it for the following vehicles,

"We're coming up to the junction now, it's a right turn isn't it?" Shinobu wanted clarification as she still had her foot down, "yeah, it's a right turn just ahead to get on the road which goes up to the depot" Taeko confirmed with a map in her hands

Just behind them, Tom was peering out of his main periscope, looking out as the FV continued to follow the small Type 89, with the Lee just behind, as the column reached the junction, with Duck team starting to turn right, Tom then noticed something ahead,

The lead M13 of Anzio's formation came around from behind the rocky hill, with it suddenly stopping upon its crew being alerted to the Ooarai tanks to their front, Tom immediately shot for his radio in a reflex action,

"Enemy tanks to the bloody front! Hard right! Hard right!" He yelled in alarm, Morgan yanked hard on his right control stick, forcing the FV into a quick right turn, while behind them, Azusa having heard the warning ordered Karina to speed up, with her slamming on the accelerator to hurry into cover,

The M13 was now at this point aiming its gun, its gunner had a good shot at the M3's side as it was turning.

The tank fired a round and hit the M3 in its rear, the shell punchering one of the fuel tanks and setting the tank on fire,

An alarm blared in the crew compartment as it filled with smoke from the engine fire, "Fire in the engine compartment! Put it out!" Azusa gasped through the fiery miasma, Yuuki and Ayumi where already rushing for fire extinguishers and moving to the back to fight the fire,

"We've run into Ooarai's tanks Duce! We were able to hit one but they ran into cover on the depot's access road" the M13 commander reported to the main force, which at this point had caught up and now had come to a standstill, shots began to fly from the Ooarai side, with Anzio returning fire.

"Ooarai is here? Well this ain't going to be as simple as I thought" Anchovy said to herself, she turned around and looked back at the two Saharianos, "hey Amaretto, Gelato, see if you get up the hill and attack them from above, try to catch them off guard" she ordered, " _sì_ commander" Amaretto complied, she and Gelato turned their tanks to power up the hill on their side,

Meanwhile, Anglerfish, Elk, Turtle, Anteater and Lupo teams had formed up on the corner to try and contest the Anzio presence, further back, Mallard team had managed to climb up the hill on their side to get a vantage point.

The hiss of the extinguishers filled the M3's crew compartment as Yuuki and Ayumi fought the fire, after a few seconds, their efforts paid off as the fire died down, "the fire has been extinguished!" Ayumi called up, "good work! Now get back on the seventy-five" Azusa gleefully said.

In the overwatching B1, Sodoko saw the two Saharianos coming towards the access road, she tried to fire at them with her 47 mm, but the shell missed and hit the ground nearby.

"Tanks on the access road you have two tanks attacking you from above!" she warned, Tom acted fast, "Morgan, push us up against the slope, Nelson, aim the gun upwards" he barked, the FV shifted as Morgan manoeuvred the tank, having it facing towards the slope with the front of the vehicle sitting on it, Nelson aimed the gun upwards at the edge of the rock.

"You're aiming in the right place Falcon, one of them will surely run straight into your gun!" Sodoko confirmed, "you have permission to fire at will gunner" Tom informed his gunner.

Amaretto grinned with confidence as the Sahariano continued along the small raised area, "there's no way we'll be able to push through all those tanks to get to the depot" she overheard Carpaccio on the radio, "don't worry, where going to spring our surprise on them soon" Amaretto resounded, she and Gelato both reached the edge of the slope above the access road and came to a sudden halt with their guns pointing down at the road.

"We have them!" Amaretto cheered, but the sight she then saw caught her completely off guard and made her gasp.

The large gun of the FV was aimed straight at her.

She screamed at the top of her lungs as the FV fired, the shell slamming into the lower plate, the extreme force made the Italian tank flip over backwards, the vehicle slammed down hard on its side and continued to roll back down the hill it had climbed.

"Urgh! This isn't working, let me think for a second" Anchovy huffed at her cupola, something to the left side of her vision caught her attention, she turned and her face twisted in panic as she saw the Sahariano rolling towards her sideways, the Duce yelped in fear and ducked back down into her turret, just as the Sahariano hit a rock and bounced over the P43 bis, narrowly missing the cupola, the runaway tank finally came to a rest on its roof in a ditch, and the white flag popped out of the underside.

The shot had caught Gelato completely by surprise, her driver immediately started to pull back as her tank got reprisal shots from the Type 89 and M3, meanwhile Anchovy stuck herself back out and saw Amaretto's Sahariano on its roof in the ditch, "hey! Amaretto, are you alright?" she questioned over the waves, in the overturned tank, a beaten up Amaretto was trembling, lying on the roof of her tanks turret, with the rest of her crew sprawled helter-skelter on top of each other in the crew compartment,

"Y-yeah I'm mostly okay" Amaretto said with a shaky voice, "what do you mean mostly, are you hurt?" Anchovy pushed, "n-no, I-I think I wet myself" Amaretto said embarrassed, the Duce shook her head feeling sorry for her comrade, "what about you Gelato?" She then asked, "we had to pull back, I ain't going to get shot in the same way she did" Gelato panicked, as her tank reversed back down the slope.

"We managed to take one of them out, I think we scared the other one off too" Tom reported, as the two Scottish brothers began to reload the gun behind him, "good one Falcon, keep them scared and unwilling to attack" Miho praised.

Anchovy went back to her map to try and look for any other alternative paths to attack Ooarai from, looking towards the western side, there were two smaller trails which ran in between and connected the north and south roads, these trails where tighter and where deep inside their own small valleys.

Meanwhile Miho, who had also been looking at her map, had also noticed the presence of the two smaller roads, as she was formulating a plan, she then heard the sound of engines from behind, she turned to see the now functional Hippo and Leopon tank's moving into position behind her own vehicle,

"Sorry for the delay commander, where ready and waiting for orders" Erwin said over the waves, "that's great Hippo, now listen up everyone" Miho called attention,

"Now we could just push right through their lines, but with some of the new tanks they seem to have, that tactic would cost us vehicles, and for now I really want to try and keep our losses down, so where going to try and go round the back of them via the two side trails, I want Leopon and Lupo to take the outer trail while Hippo and Anteater take the inner one, Mallard will keep their position overwatching the plateau, me, Turtle and Elk will stay on the corner to keep Anzio occupied, guys on the depot road, hold your position and shoot any tank with a pizza painted on it which tries to rush you down, is that all understood?" The Anglerfish commander laid out, she got confirmation by all the members of the team, "also, be aware that we are in mountainous terrain, so there may be a few radio dark zones and vehicles may lose radio contact with each other" Saori then cut in, "ok, thanks for that information Saori, everyone, get to it and Panzer Vor!" Miho resounded,

However, Anchovy had come out with a similar strategy to Miho,

"Ok, Panettone, Carpaccio, I want you two to go to the inner trail, take a second Semovente with you as well, Gelato, you take two CV.33s with you and guard the outer trail, don't push up, just warn us if Ooarai tries a flanking maneuver and delay them" the Duce said her orders, "what about me _nee-san?"_ Pepperoni chimed in, "you stay where you are, and don't be an idiot and run around like you did last time" Anchovy hissed at her with authority.

The StuG, Chi-Nu, Porsche Tiger and Standard B began to turn and drove back along the road they came, soon the road split, with the smaller trail going off to the left, the four tanks made the turn and continued to travel on the narrower path, soon this path split again, with the trail going forwards and now turning off to the left, Anteater and Hippo made the left turn, while Leopon and Lupo continued straight on.

In the StuG, Caesar was looking a bit uneasy with the situation the whole team was in, Erwin noticed this look on her face, "you look a bit tense Caesar, you okay?" She addressed, "I'm fine Erwin, it's just that I don't feel right in this fight where in" the Hippo loader returned, "you ain't like this normally Caesar, is it because where against Anzio and you're worried about running into you're precious Hina-chan?" Saemonza turned to her and teased her slightly, Oryou laughed while Caesar rolled her eyes "yeah, yeah, just because she's an old friend" she chided.

Then there was the sound of a shell whizzing over their tank, catching the crew off guard, it continued and slammed into the rock behind them, with the Chi-Nu stopping to return fire, "there's three Anzio tanks ahead vice-commander- _nyaa!"_ Nekota blurted out a warning, "yeah thanks Nekota I've just noticed" Erwin thanked as she pulled her eyes back to her periscope, she could see the Carro P26 with the two Semoventes to either side, "three tanks ahead Monza, you are clear to fire at will" she directed, "roger that" Saemonza confirmed.

On the other side of the ridge line between the trails, Leopon and Lupo where driving along the outer trail, with the yellow setting sunlight casting large shadows in the narrow corridor, there scenery was different compared to the other group, where they had cliff sides on both sides of their trail, Leopon also had a cliff face to their left side, but to their right, was a fast water rapid which ran alongside the road, with a vertical cliff face on the other side of the water.

Nakajima had herself standing in the cupola, with Hoshino sitting on the edge of the square hatch to the left, with her feet still in the turret,

As the tank continued to rumble forward, she then heard the sound of moving pebbles and rocks, she turned to the left to see small rocks and gravel rolling down the rocky slope, following fissures cracked into the light grey stone, "hey, you see that?" she said to Nakajima, who turned and also noticed the falling earth, "yeah, looks like the rock in this area's a little unstable" she theorised, "should we stop and turn around?" Hoshino then suggested, "no lets keep going" Nakajima dismissed unsurely.

Shells continued to fly in the other trail, with the StuG and Chi-Nu trying to defend themselves against the three Anzio tanks, Carpaccio had since realized she was fighting against Hippo team, and was driven by the burning desire of her 'friendly-rivalry' with Caesar.

"Hey Panettone, keep your and the other Semovente focused on the Chi-Nu, I want that StuG for myself" she boasted to her teammate, "sure, I think we can take that Chi-Nu easily by ourselves" Panettone agreed, Carpaccio smirked to herself,

"I'll get you this time Taka-Chan!" she ran through her head.

The Chi-Nu was now in a real state of bother, it was taking shells from the two Semoventes and was trying to stand its ground behind the StuG, "we can't take much more of this- _momo!"_ Momoga panicked, as the other two members of the team continued to work frantically in the turret,

"Our AP shells are struggling against that Chi-Nu commander!" Panettone's gunner called out, "should we use the _effetto pronto_ shells?" her loader then suggested, those being the Italian designation of their HEAT rounds, "sure, load the HEAT, that will go through their armour like butter" Panettone agreed, the loader proceeded to reach down and pull out one of the mentioned rounds, the loader pushed the nose into the breach and then rammed the shell home.

"Ready!" she shouted, and the gunner proceeded to fire, the shell flew and slammed into the front plate of the Chi-Nu, with a mixture of metal and liquid lance splashing off the impact zone.

The Chi-Nu shook with Anteater yelping to the impact and resultant damage, "that went straight through us! They're starting to fire HEAT shells- _piyo!"_ Piyotan realized.

The other Semovente had also caught on to this and it too had started to load HEAT shells, it fired and the shell slammed into the front of the turret of the Chi-Nu, destroying the turret controls and jamming the turret,

"Get back Anteater!" Erwin shouted into her radio, but by then it was too late, Panettone's Semovente had reloaded and fired another HEAT shell, the shell struck the turret of the Chi-Nu again, finally destroying the crew compartment and sending a white flag out the top of the turret.

"We just lost Anteater commander!" Erwin howled back to Miho, "wha? Anteater, are you okay?" she asked concerned to the crew of the knocked out tank, "where fine commander!" All of Anteater cheered to her relief, "sorry, but we're out of the fight- _nyaa"_ Nekota apologised, "it's alright, just stay put, I think the tournament recovery vehicle will pick you up after this fight ends" Miho returned, she then turned to Elk team's Kranvagn which was sat near the back of their position, "hey Elk, go and reinforce Hippo's position, and hurry!" she ordered, " _Ja kommendör!"_ Erik replied enthusiastically.

Saemonza grimaced as she zeroed her sights in on the left Semovente, "eat this!" She taunted and pulled the trigger on the gun, the shell flew out and slammed into the Semovente's front plate, going straight through and knocking out the small tank destroyer with one shot, Caesar sprung into action and threw another AP round into the breach with it slamming shut behind the brass.

"Ready!" She called out to Saemonza, "aim for the other Semovente, knock it out!" Erwin ordered her gunner, Saemonza acknowledged and trained her sights on Panettone's Semovente, she sent the round with the pull of the trigger, the shell collided with the front plate of the target, and like before, the powerful round knocked the tank out with a single impact, throwing off a shot it had just fired.

"Urgh! They got us with that!" Panettone moaned with the crew compartment now full of smoke, she and her crew having grimaced looks on their faces.

Carpaccio was now gritting her teeth, with both her teammates knocked out, it was now back down to a one versus one with her rival.

Just like old times…

"Driver, you remember our previous strategy with dealing with that StuG?" She told to her driver, "yeah I do" the driver responded, "I think we'll have to resort to that again, but this time we're bringing a turret!" the blonde resounded, "go! go! _Avanti!"_

Erwin watched as the P26 charged right at them, Caesar had just rammed another round into the breach, Saemonza tried to train the gun, but the P26 fired at the front plate of the StuG, the shell didn't go through, but the shock had thrown off the return shot from the StuG, the P26 continued on, rocketing past and scraping against the StuG's right track,

Hippo team where shaken inside their tank from the impact, Erwin watched as the P26 continued on and then started a handbrake turn, Oryou had the control sticks jammed to one side, forcing their tank to turn clockwise on the spot, the P26 had also turned its turret and fired another shot, this one however just skimmed over the top of the StuG's roof,

Caesar huffed as she had loaded another round into the gun, Oryou finally brought the front of the tank destroyer to bear on the P26, with Saemonza already aiming the gun at its front plate, "fire!" Erwin shouted and the gun responded, the shell flew through the air and slammed into the front plate, but didn't penetrate, "it didn't go through!" Erwin panicked.

The P26 came around again and repeated its attack, Oryou managed to keep the tank pointed towards the enemy as she predicted its move, the P26 fired at almost point blank, the shell hit the sloped area above the driver's viewport and bounced upwards.

"Damn, these guys have some good moves!" Oryou hollered as she continued to manipulate her controls, keeping their tank pointed towards the Anzio threat, Erwin however was having a sense of déjà vu, "I feel like we've been in this attack before, it feels too familiar" she voiced her thoughts, "it feels like we're fighting that Semovente back during the Sensha-dō tournament" Saemonza then added on, Caesar continued to think as she loaded another AP round, thinking back to that fight, but the thought of the potential adversary commanding the P26 ran through her mind, and that's when it hit her,

"Hina's commanding that tank" she croaked, Erwin then looked at her, "you think so?" the vice-commander probed, "think about it, this is the same way she attacked us back in the tournament, Anchovy wouldn't be too crazy to attack so recklessly, and Pepperoni likes her tankettes too much to want to drive that sort of tank, it has to be Carpaccio" Caesar voiced her opinion.

"They're coming around again!" Saemonza's voice snapped them out of their thoughts, the P26 began another attack run, Saemonza again trained her sights on the front plate of the Italian tank, and pulled the trigger, the shell again flew and hit the plate dead center, but ricocheted straight up and to the right, hitting the slope of the valley behind the P26, "bounced!" she shouted back,

The P26 continued unabated and fired again, this time hitting the upper plate above the driver's viewport, the shell broke up and the spall showered upwards, some hitting and damaging the gun sight, cracking Saemonza's view through the gun.

"This is hopeless, our AP round's can't pen them through their damn front plate!" she fumed in defeat, "ok, new plan, Caesar load APCR, and shoot them in their turret face Monza, that will definitely go through" Erwin directed, Caesar put back the AP round she had in her hands and shuffled around, until she grabbed the sharp black tip of the APCR round she was seeking,

The P26 stopped and began to turn around again as Caesar placed her round on the loading ramp, then slammed it into the breach with the clang filling the crew compartment.

"Loaded!" she shouted to Saemonza, who trained her sight at the P26's turret, the cracked glass caused the image of her aimpoint to be distorted slightly, but this wouldn't stop her as she waited for the P26 to turn around, and show its turret face towards her.

Soon the P26 had finished turning, and now had its gun facing the StuG again,

"Fire!" Erwin yelled and Saemonza didn't delay, the APCR round shot out the barrel at high speed and struck the front right side of the turret.

The shell had no trouble going through, the virtual spalling filled the turret, destroying the optics and knocking the gunner unconscious, Carpaccio panicked at the sudden turn of events, "how the hell!? Driver reverse!" she hurriedly ordered her driver to fall back.

Hippo watched the P26 begin to reverse, "looks like that crippled them, they're trying to run away" Oryou observed, "I ain't letting them get away" Erwin insisted, "Monza, shoot them in the lower plate with this shell, that will take out their transmission" Caesar advised as she threw another APCR round into the breach,

Saemonza followed up on Caesar's advice, she aimed at the lower plate of the retreating P26 and sent the round, it flew and punched a clean hole into the lower plate, the spall completely destroying the transmission, bringing the tank to a sudden halt as it lost drive power.

There was the sound of crunching as the driver in a panic desperately tried to find a gear which worked, but to no avail, "the transmission's busted! We're stuck here!" she called up the Carpaccio, she just sat there and watched as the StuG adjusted it aim, and then took a deep breath.

"Looks like Taka-chan wins again" she said to herself in defeat.

Now Saemonza aimed for the turret ring, with the hope their last APCR round would finish off the P26, "send it!" she heard Erwin order, and Saemonza replied with the bang of the gun, the shell flew and struck just below the gun, the virtual spalling skating off the bottom of the gun breach and finally being enough to destroy the crew compartment, the white flag finally popped out the turret roof of the smoldering Italian heavy.

"We got her!" Oryou cheered, Erwin sighed heavily in relief that the battle was over and even wiped a bit of sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, Caesar smiled as she went back to loading AP rounds,

"Sorry Hina-chan, you ain't getting us this time" she smirked to herself.

The rocks at the top of the valley slopes were rather unstable, especially at the top of the slope which separated the two side roads from each other, the rumbling of the tanks in the valleys did little to help with what little stability their was, but the shell which had earlier ricocheted off the P26 from the StuG and had then slammed into the rock face, had started a chain reaction that couldn't be averted,

It started with a few bits of falling gravel, then that small trickle turned into a slide, then it went up to the size of pebbles, to the size of jagged stones, all of this grew from just a small area, to now a large section of the valley top, then finally, the sound of moving rock echoed through the valley as whole boulders started to dislodge and roll down the slope,

Straight down into the path of Leopon and Lupo,

The sounds caught Nakajima and Hoshino off guard as they looked up suddenly, their eyes widened as they saw the rocks coming straight for them, "whoa rockslide!" Nakajima exclaimed to the rest of her crew,

Alfonso immediately saw all the rocks coming down the slope right in front of them, " _Fermarsi! Fermarsi!"_ He roared to his driver, with Floriano immediately slamming on the brakes, bringing the Standard B to a screeching halt just as rocks bounced off the road in front of them,

But Tsuchiya did the opposite in this situation to Floriano, instead slamming on the Porsche Tiger's accelerator to try and outrun the rocks, but that wouldn't be enough,

A rock rolling at high speed slammed into the left side of Leopon's tank, throwing it off course and sending it carening off the trail, both Nakajima and Hoshino held on for dear life as their tank slid uncontrollably towards the fast-moving rapid, but between them and it was a solid rock boulder, "we're gonna crash!" Hoshino shrieked.

Tsuchiya desperately wrestled with the controls to try and stop the tank, but to no avail as the tracks sparked and locked up, "hold on!" she shouted through the tank, then the vehicle slammed into the rock at full speed, bringing the heavy tank to a sudden stop, Nakajima was slammed hard against the front edge of the cupola, seeing a flash of Hoshino's body flying forward, Suzuki was thrown around inside the tank, coming to rest sprawled on the turret floor, and Tsuchiya held her hands forwards to stop her face being slammed against the inside of the driver's viewport.

The final large boulders of the rock slide had finally come to a rest, and the calm sound of moving water from the fast rapid filled the air once again, Nakajima groaned as she lifted herself up, with a stinging pain coming from her stomach where she was slammed against the cupola, "urgh, is everyone okay?" she asked her crew, "I'm alright, I can still feel my face" Tsuchiya called up, "I'm a bit bruised, but I'm okay" Suzuki chimed in.

"HELP!" a hoarse cry came through the valley, Nakajima snapped her view forward and couldn't believe what she was seeing, in the middle of the water rapids was a half-submerged Hoshino, despirably clinging on to a rock for her life, "please! My fingers are slipping!" she continued to cry out, "What the? Just hold on Hoshino!" Nakajima didn't have the proper words with her to reply to the shocking situation.

The boys of Lupo had gotten out of their tank and ran over to the crash site, they arrived to see the three Leopon girls pulling themselves out of their tank, "are you ladies okay?" Alfonso asked concerned, "not really! Hoshino fell in the water!" Nakajima snapped a response, the boys turned and saw Hoshino hanging onto the rock, but then her fingers finally slipped and the water ripped her away from the rock, and she began to be carried by the current downstream, "HELP ME!" she screamed out a plea,

"The water's taking her away!" Suzuki weeped in helplessness, out of the boy's, Hugo was the one who was quickly thinking up a plan, an idea had popped into his head, it was crazy, but it was their only shot at saving Hoshino.

"Hey, you all grab a cable, run down-stream and be ready to fish us out" he ordered the others, "what do you mean by us?" Alfonso queried, Hugo grabbed his bustina and threw it off to the side "I'm going in for her" he returned.

"What? No!" Alfonso tried to stop him, but his words were completely lost as Hugo ran and dove into the water with a splash, after a short time, his body came back up and he shook the water off his face, as the current acted on him, he began to swim with the current to try and catch up with Hoshino,

The other girls and boys stood there with shocked looks on their face, "well you heard him! Come on let's grab a cable!" Nakajima quickly snapped, with the others following her as they went to grab a steel cable off the Porsche Tiger.

Hoshino was flailing in the water like a helpless fish, being completely disoriented as the water threw her around, with her grabbing every possible breath when her head was above water, she was desperately trying to kick her legs in any direction which would slow her down, but to no avail.

She whimpered as it felt like it would be inevitable she would smack and crack her head open on a sharp rock at some point, but she gasped as she suddenly felt a force wrapping around her, a pair of arms moved up and under her arms and hands crossed and grabbed onto her shoulders, she turned her head, and was surprised to see it was Hugo holding onto her, who was also managing to hold her and his head above water.

"Hoshino! Kick with me against the current! We have to slow ourselves down!" he ordered past the water, she felt his legs swimming past hers, she then began to do the same, due to his actions, Hoshino was now facing the right way and her swimming acted alongside Hugo's, pushing them against the current and slowing them down.

She then looked to the left and caught a glimpse of the other members of Leopon and Lupo running along the bank, Alberico and Suzuki both having the steel cable in their hands,

Thanks to Hugo's efforts, the ones on the bank where able to run past and get a good lead on the two in the water, running over the dirt and rocky ground of the rapid's bank, the group as they were running however saw something up ahead, as the rapids started to turn more to the right and move away from the dirt trail

The current of water slowly turned to a roar as they came up to an unnerving sight, the rapids went over a cliff edge and down a waterfall, it had to be at least a hundred feet or more from the top down to the pool at the bottom, at that itself was lined with jagged rocks covered in the foam of the landing water,

"Geez that's a waterfall!" Tsuchiya exclaimed, and they knew that spelled massive problems for the two in the water.

"Ok, we're going to tie a loop into the end of the cable, we'll then throw it in the water and hope they can catch it so we can pull them out" Alfonso planned, "and if they don't catch it?" Nakajima then asked, Alfonso didn't say anything to that question, the silence conveyed the dreaded thought of them both falling to their probable deaths.

After hooking the cable into a loop at one of its ends, Alfonso picked it up and, with the other members all holding onto the steel, threw it into the raging water, with it splashing down and the current catching it, the boys and girls held on tightly as they saw Hugo and Hoshino approaching in the distance,

Both of them were still holding each other together and had noticed the cable which now skated around in the center of the rapid, " _Hey! Prendi il cavo!"_ Hugo heard Alfonso yell out in his mother's tongue, Hugo then let a hand off Hoshino and got ready to grab it, "Hoshino, you have to hold your hand out and grab that cable or were both going over the edge" he warned his companion, Hoshino set her eyes on it and reached her hand out of the water.

"Come on guys grab it!" Suzuki shouted from the shore,

The hoop came within reach and Hugo didn't hesitate as he swung forwards and grabbed it, Hoshino's hand slipped but she quickly threw her hand back and grabbed it the second time,

The slack ran out on the cable and it suddenly snapped taut, Hugo fearing that Hoshino was going to lose her grip quickly took his other hand off around her chest and instead grabbed her collar, their arms both strained as the sudden snap of inertial kept trying to pull them with the current, but they managed to keep their grip just barely.

The ones holding onto the cable from the other end felt it yank sharply on them, it was so sharp it took Suzuki, Tsuchiya and Floriano off their feet, but the others managed to wrestle with the metal and keep it from slipping any further.

"Okay guys! Start pulling them out!" Nakajima ordered, and the other girls and boys started to heave and ho as they pulled on the cable, Hugo and Hoshino felt themselves being slowly pulled towards the bank.

The stable rocks of the bank where now just in reach, Hoshino reached out her free hand and grabbed onto the slippery stone, and with one last yank, they where both fully pulled onto dry land.

Hugo let go of the cable and gripped onto the stable dry earth, he helped pull Hoshino up as well from her collar, their bodies finally leaving the coldness and violence of the rapid water, the others came over and helped them back into a sitting position, both of them now soaked to the skin.

" _Cosa stavi pensando Hugo! Avresti potuto farti uccidere!"_ Alfonso argued at Hugo in their native language, visually repulsed by his seemingly careless actions, Hugo didn't show any physical regret for his actions though " _ho fatto quello che dovevo fare"_ he deadpanned back, although inside he would be lying to himself if he thought his life wasn't going to end just then in the rapids.

He then looked over to Hoshino who was just as soaked as he was, she looked a bit visibly disturbed, but her eyes then came onto his.

"You saved my life, I- I can't thank you enough" she expressed, "don't mention it, we have to look out for each other don't we?" he concurred in response, and after a few calm seconds, they both managed a smile between them both.

"Hey, what about us?" Nakajima then jumped in, Hoshino snapped her surprised face on her commander, "oh yeah, thanks for pulling us out, we would be goner's if it wasn't for that cable idea" she added on, Nakajima smiled and hugged Hoshino tightly, "I was seriously worried I would lose you" She said softly, "it's gonna take a lot more than that to get rid of me" Hoshino remarked.

The sound of a cannon shot reverberated through the atmosphere, snapping the group back to the realisation that they were in a match, "there's a battle going on you know, let's get back into it" Alfonso reminded, "sure thing" Nakajima agreed, the girls and boys picked themselves back up and began to jog back to their vehicles, "hey Hugo" the boy of that name heard Alberico call to him before he could start running, he turned to see Alberico handing back his bustina which he had thrown to the side earlier, " _grazie"_ Hugo thanked as he took it back and put it on his head again.

"Miporin, I've lost contact with Leopon and Lupo, they haven't said anything for a while" Saori mentioned at her radio station in the Panzer IV, "that's strange, maybe there's a radio dark zone in these mountains" Yukari questioned, "maybe, keep trying Saori" Miho conversed as she continued to observe the battle in front of her, "hey Falcon, what's your status?" she then asked over the radio.

"Still stuck here, we ain't going anywhere as long as that Anzio force is staring us down here" Tom replied looking at his situation, Nelson who was looking through his sight then noticed something, "I think Duck team is trying something out commander" he voiced, Tom turned his view and sure enough, he saw the Type 89 slowly edging forward, trying to get a view around the corner.

Shinobu gently feathered the throttle, keeping the tank at a snail pace as they gently crept around the rocky corner, Noriko kept her eye planted on her vision port, trying to identify Anzio's main vehicle if she could,

A tank soon came slowly into view, still looking forwards, what Noriko was looking at was Anchovy's P43 bis, with said commander having her upper body out of the hatch, "lt looks like they have a new tank for a command vehicle, and it looks more menacing than the P26 they had" Noriko reported, "can you identify the tank Duck?" Miho called, Akebi had passed a tank note book to Noriko and she began to flip through the pages, she found the tank and immediately read off its details, "it's a Carro P43 bis commander!" She informed her superior.

"That's a prototype heavy tank the Italians developed to be an eventual replacement for the P26, it only reached the mock-up stage before it was cancelled due to Italy collapsing and then changing sides in the war" Yukari told her knowledge she knew on the exotic vehicle, "what's it's characteristics?" Miho asked, "it has 100 mm of frontal armour and a nasty 90 mm gun, it would be a tough opponent for our lower-end vehicles" Yukari pointed out.

Noriko then saw that Anchovy had noticed their presence, and the P43 bis' gun was starting to turn to face them, "Shinobu reverse!" The commander quickly shouted, Shinobu immediately snapped back on the gears and hit the throttle, bringing the tank back into cover, just as the P43 bis locked on and fired it gun, hitting the rocky corner and blowing a good chuck out of it, "bloody hell that was close!" Tom gasped.

"What do you mean you got knocked out Carpaccio!?" Anchovy fumed over her radio, "sorry, but it was Taka-Chan and I wanted to have a good fight with her" Carpaccio bleated, Anchovy took a few seconds to think up a change to her strategy, "Pepperoni" she then asked, "yes _nee-san?"_ Pepperoni chirped, "take an M13 with you and take care of that StuG" the Duce directed, "and Gelato, how's your situation?" she then probed the other squad, "still nothing here Duce" Gelato returned.

Hippo had set off again after their combat with Carpaccio's force, the StuG continued to follow the dirt trail, the crew however weren't relaxed, still on edge after the action-packed battle with the P26.

Sure enough, Pepperoni's CV.33 and M13 came around the next bend, Saemonza was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the two vehicles, the M13 stopped and took aim just as the StuG came to a halt, the Italian tank fired a shell which hit the StuG's right drive sprocket form the front, breaking the track in two.

"Our track's been destroyed, we're stuck here!" Oryou panicked as the vehicle refused to move, the M13 then drove out of the way of the StuG's gun arc and around to its right side, with Pepperoni following next to it, the M13 turned it turret and got ready to finish off Hippo with one last shot, "great! Get rid of that StuG and then get back to the Duce" Pepperoni chirped to the M13 commander, "yes ma…"

But before the commander could finish her reply, the M13 was suddenly struck in the front plate with a shell from a different gun, knocking it out immediately, Pepperoni gasped and looked at where the shell had come from, and sure enough, she saw the Kranvagn sat at a small crest, with smoke emitting from the muzzle break

" _Målet utslaget! Nästa!"_ Erik confirmed the kill to his gunner, Jörgen then slewed the gun to aim at Pepperoni's tankette, with the breach slamming shut as a new round was rammed in automatically, Pepperoni panicked at the sight of the large Swedish tank, "drive! Drive right at them!" she shouted at her driver, who didn't hesitate to slam on the accelerator and send the CV.33 rocketing towards Elk team, the Kranvagn fired another shot, but it missed and hit the ground to the left of the small tankette, the CV.33 then turned around the Kranvagn and spun to face it, with the heavy tank itself starting to turn to keep itself pointing towards the threat.

Pepperoni let loose a hail of machine gun fire at the rear and side of the Kranvagn, but the weak machine gun bullets just bounced off the thick Swedish steel in a chatter, the driver revved the engine and drove the tankette around the rear of Elk, with them still turning the turret and tank itself on the spot to try and get the small vehicle in front of their gun, this all resulted in a rather humorous sight of the CV.33 running around the Kranvagn, with its gun trying to catch up.

"Keep up the pressure on them!" Anchovy barked at her crew and the M13 who was still with her, as Ooarai had began to apply more pressure on her position, " _Neeee-Saaan!"_ Pepperoni whined over the radio, "what the hell is it now!" the Duce snapped back "there's this big crane wagon with the StuG, it's impenetrable to anything we throw at it!" Pepperoni quicky spat, "goddamn it! You and your carelessness always get yourself into these stupid situations _Baka_ -roni!" Anchovy fumed in anger, "but _nee-san…"_ Pepperoni whimpered in mercy, "no buts! Just get yourself out of there!" the Duce cut her off.

Erik watched the CV.33 running around their tank, he had noticed a rock face just next to their tank, with the resulting gap being used by the tankette to keep going round them, "Knugen, keep the back of the tank pointed this way and get ready to reverse when I order" he mentioned to his driver, with a plan in his head, Knugen obliged.

"Okay, go round once more, then run like hell back to the Duce" Pepperoni directed her driver, she aimed for the gap between the rocks and the Kranvagn to hopefully sling out from behind the large Swedish heavy and make a dash for the main force again.

" _Bagåt!"_ Erik shouted suddenly, Knugen stepped on the accelerator in reverse gear and the tank lurched backwards, the gap was closed up enough, which resulted in the CV.33 slamming into the side of the Kranvagn.

Pepperoni was thrown forwards in the crew compartment as her tankette came to a sudden halt, her driver quickly put the tankette into reverse and tried to reverse, but both Anzio students witnessed the Kranvagn's gun finally aimed on their small vehicle.

Jörgen didn't hesitate to put the third APCR round straight into the front of the CV.33 knocking it over and backwards onto its roof, and a white flag popping out of the floor signaled its defeat, " _Där fick jag dig!"_ Jörgen berated.

"We've been knocked out _nee-san!,_ that large Swedish tank got us before we could run!" Pepperoni whimpered to her commander, "are you serious!?" the Duce berated, but she was then interrupted by the other group, "Duce! We have two tanks attacking us, both of them are packing some firepower, we won't be able to hold them off at this rate!" Gelato reported with desperation in her voice.

Anchovy was now sweating bullets to their now dire situation, and she knew that if she didn't pull back now, she would be cut off and annailated.

"We've taken too many losses, all tanks, we are now disengaging, Gelato hold your position until we've pulled back to you" Anchovy spoke out, her P43 bis and the accompanying M13 started to reverse, making sure to keep their guns pointed towards the Ooarai threat.

"Looks like they're backing off" Anzu said to the others over the radio, "Leopon and Lupo must've gotten around the other side and started pressuring them" Miho replied, "well let's get them now!" Noriko chirped in happiness, "yeah!" the rest of her crew beamed and the Type 89 rocketed forward, "hey hold your horses!" Tom warned, but Duck team continued on unabated, the tank came round the corner and right into the sights of the P43 bis, the Italian tank didn't hesitate as it fired a shell, which hit the Type 89 in its front plate, flipping it over onto its side.

"We got hit head on!" Noriko hissed with her and her crew sprawled around the smoky interior as the white flag popped out of the tanks right side, the FV came around the corner, covering its lower hull with the wreck of the Type 89, it aimed its gun right at the retreating M13, with the barrel poking out of the translucent black smoke.

"Look out!" Anchovy warned the M13 just as the FV fired off its shot, the huge shell narrowly missed the M13 and slammed into the nearby cliff face, blasting out a chunk of rock in a large plume of dust, "just missed them gunner" Tom told Nelson,

The rest of Ooarai came around the corner of the main road and set themselves up, the P43 bis then turned its attention towards the Hetzer which aimed at the vehicle, Anzu set her sights on the front plate and fired off a shot, but the shell bounced off the angled armour, the P43's gun reloaded and fired a shell in return, hitting the Hetzer in its mantlet and damaging the gun breach, Momo struggled to open the beach as it was locked shut, "breach has been damaged! Don't know if it will affect the accuracy!" She hollered as she finally got the gun open and ejected the smoking brass.

The two Anzio tanks continued to retreat, as shell flew past and bounced off armour plates, once they reversed around a small rock covering, both tanks turned around and headed back down the route to meet up with Gelato's tanks.

"Ok, Mallard, Turtle, and Rabbit, I want you to go up to the depot and grab the resources, then run down and go back to the rest-stop and wait" Miho listed.

Meanwhile the Anzio tanks went past the first junction, where they ran into the Kranvagn sitting on the corner, still with one shell left in its breach, both the M13 and P43 bis turned their guns and fired shots, but both shells ricocheted off the sloped turret, the heavy tank returned its final shot, the shell hit the edge of the M13's turret and jammed into the small gap between the turret and hull, the Kranvagn reversed with its APCR drum dry and Jörgen turned and began to reload in a hurry.

The Anzio tanks however continued unabated, finally reaching the second junction, Anchovy looked to the right and saw Gelato's tanks fighting Leopon and Lupo, "hey Gelato! Where here, start pulling back" Anchovy ordered, just as Leopon sent a shot which took out one of the CV.33s.

Gelato's Sahariano alongside the last CV.33 reversed back and linked up with the M13 and P43 bis, the now united Anzio force now moved fast, away from the front and down the road they had once came with shots from the Porsche Tiger and Standard B flying around them, and most of Ooarai following their movements, the Ooarai tanks then stopped on the junction and took defensive positions to prevent a counter-attack.

Meanwhile, Mallard, Turtle and Rabbit reached the concrete grounds of the depot at top of the small ascent, the three tanks saw three trailers full of crates ready for the taking, the three tanks each chose a trailer and reversed up to them each,

Moyoko, Aya and Momo jumped out of their tanks and ran over to the tow hooks of the trailers, each of them lifted up the hook's with a grunt and rolled over the mass to the rear of their tanks, then using chains to secure the trailers to any hardpoints on the back of their vehicles.

Aya's hand slipped on the chain she was securing and whacked the metal of the trailer beam, she hissed and massaged her hand to try and relieve the pain, "hey, you okay?" she heard Moyoko behind her say in concern, "don't worry I'm find, just banged my hand" Aya replied kindly, she saw Momo hop over her trailer's hitch, "ok, enough standing around, let's get out of here" she barged in with a hurried tone, they all rushed back to their tanks and clambered in through the hatches.

"We have the supplies, we're leaving now" Anzu notified over the radio, "rodger, it seems the Anzio tanks have disengaged us and retreated, so get back to the rest stop and we'll meet up there" Miho set out, " _Kommendör_ _,_ we also have the issue of Hippo, they broke a track, we can go back and help" Erik then mentioned, "sure thing, go help them Elk, everyone else, begin to disengage and withdraw to the rest stop" Miho permitted.

All the tanks turned and started to drive northwards again, however Elk then split off from the group and traveled on the different path, the one which Hippo had been stuck on,

The Kranvagn came up to the StuG and stopped just in front of it, Oryou and Caesar were already out and trying to fix the track, with rods and hammer in hand, with Saemonza sat in one of the hatches on the roof and Erwin keeping a lookout with binoculars.

Knugen and Jörgen jumped out of their tank and walked over to the working girls, "you need some help here?" the formed asked, "yeah, we're trying to get this broken pin out of one of links" Caesar showed, Knugen gave a closer look at the pin they were hitting, "I can tell you the problem right away, you're hitting it the wrong way" he smiled and pointed out, as they had been hammering on the fat side of the track pin, "we'll show you" Jörgen then suggested, both the Swedes took a hold of the tools, Knugen placed the metal rod on the broken pin at the outside of the track, and Jörgen began swinging the hammer, hitting the rod with power and accuracy with an accompanying metallic ping with each swing, one piece of the broken pin came out the left side, and after repositioning the rod, the two Swedes got the other piece out the right side.

They then moved to the section of track on the floor, with the broken pin still stuck in the center, Jörgen rolled his sleeves up as the hammer had been hard work to swing, he continued to work, but as he worked Saemonza was of course staring, mostly at the working muscles of his arms, now glistening with a little bit of sweat.

"Wow, he really knows how to work hard" she was now in her own little world of mesmerisation.

"Okay thats the piece out, Monza can you get a new pin?" a distant voice called her, but it went complete over her head as she was now deep in thought.

"That body, it just looks so good, gosh and those arms, I wonder what he could do to me with those"

"Monza?"

"Oh how I would love having those hands up my skirt feeling my…"

"MONZA!"

She suddenly jumped back to reality with a yelp in response to Caesar shouting at her, she saw Caesar, Oryou, Knugen and Jörgen looking at her, the two Swedish boys with a raised eyebrow, "the pin please?" the Hippo loader then asked calmly, "oh yeah, sorry I just drifted off for a second" Saemonza admitted as she dived down into the StuG, "riiiiight" Oryou vacillated, after a few seconds, Saemonza popped back up and tossed Knugen a new track pin, which he caught in his hand, "ok, just get this track up and we can get this pin in" he directed.

With a few more hammer blows, the track was now back together and fixed, "there you go, you should be able to move again" Knugen admired his handiwork, "thanks guys, now let's get going, I doubt the rest of Ooarai is going to wait any longer for us" Erwin mentioned.

The rest stop now was filled with Ooarai vehicles, some of the tanks had their guns pointed at one of the two entrances, while the supply carriers in the middle of the defence.

Hugo was still pulling at his wet uniform in his gunner position in the Standard B, which was facing towards the combat area the whole team was just in, the sticky felt clinging to his body, this however didn't divide his attention from the sight, which he still had his head up against and looking through.

He then saw the two last Ooarai tanks coming around a small rocky corner and driving on the track towards the rest area, "here they are" he announced to his crew, Miho in the cupola of her Panzer IV witnessed the StuG and Kranvagn pull into the parked tank formation, "we're back commander, just had an issue with the tracks, but we're ready for action again" Erwin told, "good, we've got the trailers secured so there's no more reason to be here, let's get back to base with these resources before Anzio comes back or another school jumps on us" Miho directed, "what about Duck and Anteater?" Sodoko asked, "according to what I read, they should be picked up be recovery vehicles and brought back to base, so don't worry about them, they'll be fine" the commander reassured, "so I'm guessing we're moving flank speed down the route we came up?" Tom questioned, "yes Tom, now let's get moving, Panzer Vor!" Miho finished and with that, the remaining Ooarai tanks began the trip back to base under the yellow evening sky.

Translations

Avanti = Forward (Italian)

Fermarsi! Fermarsi! = Stop! Stop! (Italian)

Hey! Prendi il cavo! = Hey! Grab the cable! (Italian)

Cosa stavi pensando Hugo! Avresti potuto farti uccidere! = What were you thinking Hugo! You could've gotten yourself killed! (Italian)

Ho fatto quello che dovevo fare = I did what I had to do (Italian)

Grazie = Thanks (Italian)

Målet utslaget! Nästa! = Target destroyed! Next! (Swedish)

Bagåt! = Backwards! (Swedish)

Där fick jag dig! = I got you! (Swedish)

Kommendör = Commander (Swedish)


	13. 安らかな夜 - Restful Night

**Another wait eh? but I do bring the satisfaction of signing off on this chapter, now the longest so far, it took a while as I'm a person who's easily sidetracked (which is a nasty habit I've tried to shake off, but to no avail), but hey, I'm still on this story ain't I?**

 **And now the reviews, and just like this chapter, there are quite a few long ones...**

 **1: Seeing that Anzio now has some new tanks as well like St. Gloriana and Pravda I only guess what new tank the other schools have.**

 **Let's start off with Kuromorimine with them considering they already have some pretty hard hitting tanks. I think they get some Leopard prototypes, Pz IV and this ones a bit of a stretch the E100. Which for starters in real life only existed as an incomplete chassis but still it would complete Kuromorimine heavy tanks.**

 **Now for Saunders they might get either M4A3E8, M41 Walker Bulldog, M26 Pershing and maybe they might modify one to become the T26E4 SuperPershing.**

 **Like I said before these are only guesses and you might have something surprising in the next chapter.**

 **But still keep up the good work and hope to see more soon.**

 **Thanks for the support! And I will say you are right with one of those Saunders's guesses, I won't mention which one as of yet, but do stay tuned as their battle will be coming up shortly.**

 **2: While you instituted rules to "prevent" main battle tanks from being overly powerful you have seemed to missed a few things.**

 **You can not ban SABOT projectiles from most of these 70's-90's tanks as they would be firing either only HEAT projectiles or high explosive, regular armor piercing shells would be impossible due to the fact that the guns are smooth bore and do not have rifling.**

 **Moreover by introducing MBTs it will be impossible for the teams using ww2 and early Cold War tanks to compete. Keep in mind MBTs unlike these other vehicles have fire control systems, targeting computers, thermal optics, GPS positioners, independent thermal optics and infrared sensors for the commander, and more. MBTs will be hitting these ww2 tanks from kilometers away and they will see them long before the reverse happens.**

 **For your first point, the banning of Sabot APDS and APFSDS was fully intended, it was so the MBT's in this case would be forced to fire full calibre AP rounds (in the case of the T-55AI Igman's) or HEAT-FS rounds (in the case of the M-84's and their derivatives), this was mostly done in the M-84's case to reduce it's long range effectiveness, comparing the APFSDS velocity of around 1800-1700 m/s to the 3BK14M HEAT-FS (the shell's DST's M-84's use) have a velocity of only 905 m/s, thus making it more of a challenge for the tank to hit moving targets at a distance.**

 **You also exposed me being a forgetful idiot, I did have a discussion on the fire control systems with somebody else and I wrote down a quick addition to the rules in my notes:**

 **-"Fire control systems must also be reduced in their information gathering capabilities and** **all automatic systems must be disabled, meaning all target acquisition and computing** **must be done manually by the tank's gunner."-**

 **(in short, FCS's are reduced in the information the can display, things like range will still be calculated, but the gunner would have to take this information in and process it in their head and aim the gun manually with this in mind, so opening the process up to things like human error).**

 **I was supposed to put this in the rule set at some point, but I was a pillock and forgot, so thanks for the reminder, hopefully that will also alleviate some of the concerns, I'll have to go back and quickly add it in.**

 **I've also looked into the thermal sight's issue, the M-84's were equipped with 'Luna' IR illuminatior's, and these were removed on the Tankery grade tanks as they were seen more as night vision than thermal vision, but the M-84AS and a yet to be shown Croat MBT are equipped with thermal vision (Agava-2 in the M-84AS' case).**

 **And I know this seems all a bit unrealistic and it looks like me making a ton of excuses to get MBT's into the GuP world, but you do have to remember that this is all a fantasy, so I'm not being so anal on trying to keep everything down to the wire in terms of realism (also, tactics will also have a part to play in these MBT's too) , I don't doubt that a single MBT in real life would completely decimate 20, 30 or 40 WWII era vehicles, but this is GuP, were realism isn't really the first concern in the first place.**

 **But again, thanks for the feedback, any is appreciated.**

 **(this next one actually comes from reddit and is only the part which focuses on the story)**

 **3: ...** **Now, about the story. The story is great. I love all things international, so competitions like this are my favorite. I also like how you didn't follow the "love at first sight" or "love after 5 minutes of any kind of interaction" arcs. It's a good refresher.**

 **I do like what you've done with the school's as well. There are just a few problems. Namely, Serbia and Croatia are working together. This, as you mentioned, did not happen historically and therefore I can't see it happening here. Also, I don't know why you chose _Croatia's leader_ to be the antagonist. Also, Anzio and Chi-ha-tan being able to purchase new tanks seems just as doubtful as BC Freedom coming together simply because of a shift in command. Not that I would have expected any of them to even be invited. None of these are big deals, but I thought I'd let you know of them.**

 **Story-wise, this is incredible. I love the direction you're taking this in and that you're not just using the standard "beat the flag tank" style of play (though I must confess I _do_ like that style). I like that you put men into Sensha-dō, as men would probably enjoy playing with weapons of war made safe much more then women (not saying that's good or bad, just that that's how it is). I'm not much of a fan of post-WWII tanks here, but you have creative licensing and it makes several of the countries work.**

 **...Yeah I'm glad I didn't fall into that 'Love at first sight' thing too, many other stories I've read over my time had falled into that trap, for one-shots it's a good thing to do, when trying to write a story with deep engagement, not so much.**

 **I actually didn't really clarify too well how DST and NTC came together again, it was mostly by pressure by the two commanders sick of their schools being beaten in battles ever since the JAO collapsed, this was the main driving force for the schools to come together and join forces again to relive that Yugoslav power in the sport of tankery, and they did well, they managed to reach the semi-finals in the European tournament mentioned in the story, until they were bested by Tom's Bovington.**

 **The main reason why Katarina is the main antagonist here is mostly because of the historical people she and Vlatko are based off, Katarina is based off Ante Pavelić, Dictator of the Independent State of Croatia, which Vlatko, as his surname suggests, is based off Slobodan Milošević, President of Yugoslavia during it's collapse and demise, comparing these two men, I personally saw Pavelić being the worst of the two, and this is also reflected in Katarina's personality, condescending, unforgiving, ruled with an iron fist, the only real difference (leaving the war crimes out of the equation) was that** **Pavelić was a Croatian ultra-nationalist (he was the leader of the Ustaše after all), while Katarina is actually a Pan-Yugoslav and saw it's demise as a huge embarrassment, again, another driving force for her to unite with NTC.**

 **Anzio and Chi-Ha-Tan's new acquisitions in tanks was really a necessary move in increasing tank diversity, all the other schools were getting new tanks so I didn't want them being left behind, I did try to show Anzio having saved up money to explain the new acquisitions, but with Chi-Ha-Tan, yeah I could've done more to explain their new vehicles, but again, It was in the name of tank diversity.**

 **Also, I will admit, Asparagus' inclusion was a bit forced, mostly out of seeing her in Ribbon Warrior, liking her character, and being kind of annoyed that she got thrown under the bus and replaced by Marie in Das Finale (Jajka has also sadly gone through the same issue, but mark my words she will have her winged hussar moment in my project), but I feel like she would still have her strong unifying prowess still in her, and it was also done for a small amount of comedy factor, especially between Andou and Oshida, now both have to watch their actions with the old commander now looking over their shoulders.**

 **And I'm glad you are liking the new style of play, I came up with the idea when the project was in it's infancy in my mind and I just ran with the idea, I will admit sequels may go back to the traditional methods, but I feel like this tournament will be a good opening to this world I'm creating.**

 **And I see that the boy's are getting positive reception, I would agree and say that tank's to me do feel like more of a man's thing (although I'm male myself so what do I know?), But I always saw different countries in Europe taking a different approach to tankery and it's gender norms, some like the Czech Republic and Croatia seeing it as truly feminine, other's like Serbia and Romania see it as masculine, others like the UK, Sweden, Italy and Hungary see it as a sport both males and females have a place in the sport, those are the only countries I've mentioned and have appeared so far, but others will show, and you will see where they lie in this debate.**

 **Also just to finish off, I have been training myself to write in a different way, using individual lines more than just large paragraphs, I hope it should be easier to read compared to earlier chapters, and I will at some point go back and update them to follow the same style.**

 **(ALSO - My proofreader hasn't gone though this chapter yet, so this chapter will get updated in the future when that's done and this will disappear when that happens - Just an FYI)**

 **Now, Onto the chapter...**

* * *

 **安らかな夜** **\- Restful Night**

The trip back to base was a nerve racking experience, the remaining Ooarai tanks with resources in tow ran out of the mountainous area with the sun hanging low in the sky and the daylight slowly dying.

The tanks themselves were on the dirt road again heading back to base, towards the belt of Venus and the Earth's shadow slowly creeping up above the horizon opposite to the setting sun.

The darkness did bring a bit of reassurance to the teams, however they were still a prime target for any passing team who saw then.

Miho heard Tom at one point say that it was like they were a 'sandwich box with the lid half-off', whatever that meant, probably just a British figure of speech.

Luckily for Ooarai, their worries were fruitless as no other schools came out of the distance to challenge them, the tanks continued unabated, the calmness of the atmosphere still being present amount the rattling of tracks.

As the safety of their base slowly came into view, Mako kept the tank going at a steady pace along the dirt road, she pulled on one of the levers to turn the tank at the junction which soon led onto the access road of the base.

The tank soon drove into the courtyard, slowed down and turned into position so it could reverse into the tank shelter.

Mako's expertise parked the tank in its place at the far left side of the tank shelter, she hit a button on the ignition panel and the tank's engine died down, she leaned back in her seat and groaned in tiredness.

"Finally, some rest" she muttered.

Saori smiled at her as she took the headphones off her head, "well I think we did well today didn't we Miporin?" She said to her commander.

Miho hummed positively, "yeah we did, we gained some resources and destroyed most of Anzio in that battle, I guess they won't be too reckless going forward" the commander added on.

"What about Duck and Anteater? They got taken out didn't they?" Hana questioned.

"From what I've heard, when tanks get knocked out in an engagement, once it ends, recovery vehicles like the ones we see after the end of a tournament match, come out and take the tanks back to their home base, they will take some resources away from us as a result though" Yukari proceeded to explain as she opened the hatch next to her.

The girls all clambered out of their Panzer IV, touching down onto the concrete.

"We only lost two tanks so I think we won't lose too many resources as a result" Miho opinionated as she walked out into the open.

the other tanks had parked up and their crews were now walking around, Miho witnessed Falcon team walking towards them, with Tom to the front.

"A good day's work, I would say," he told the girls.

"Yeah it was, Anzio gave us a good fight but we pulled through" Miho returned in kindness.

"I would've loved to see the look on that commander's face who we blew away, she must've been chucking bricks after that" Ronald chortled.

"Well that must've been a rather surprising moment for her today, delivered by your local gunner" Nelson smiled.

Then Miho saw Erwin, Azusa and Nakajima come up from behind.

"Hey commander, what do you want us to do when the knocked out tanks arrive?" the Leopon commander then queried.

"I think the tournament staff will deliver the tanks back here, so be ready for them, also how quick can you fix them?" Miho explained and then asked.

Nakajima smiled and pulled a wrench out from behind her and spun it around in her hand.

"Don't worry, we can fix them quicker than any other team, but the more hands we have the better it will be" she winked in return.

Tom then turned to the Lindsay brothers. "Hey, are you two willing to help the mechanics?" he asked them.

"Of course, us Scots are natural born engineers, nothing better than us" Ronald reassured.

"Yeah, engineers in haggis and silly kilts" Morgan sniggered to himself.

"What?" Ronald puzzled.

"What?" the Welshman quickly replied dumbly.

Miho held back a giggle from Morgan's silly quip.

"Ok, you're all excused for now, do everything you need to do now for the rest of the night" she affirmed.

"Job's a good'un" Tom replied in kindness. He and the rest turned and began to walk off.

But two people then caught Tom's attention, it turned out to be Hugo and Hoshino, both in their still damp uniforms.

"Oi!" he shouted over to them to get their attention. They both stopped and turned to him.

"What happened to you two?" Tom continued.

"Errm…" Hoshino struggled to come up with an answer for what had happened to her earlier.

"She just fell into some water, and I had to fish her out, nothing too bad" Hugo stepped in for her. Tom just cocked an eye, but just shrugged.

"Heh, well at least it was nothing, just get changed before you catch a cold or something" the British commander waved off, and then walked off.

The Italian and the mechanic then looked at each other.

"Well I'm getting changed back into my mechanic overalls, what about you?" Hoshino then inquired.

"I'll deal with it until I can take a shower" Hugo told.

"If you say so, I need to get ready for repairs, I'll see you and again, thanks for saving me" Hoshino conversed.

"Don't mention it, _addio"_ he parted and the two students walked away.

As she walked, Hoshino's mind was racing, Hugo in that rapid was somebody who risked his own life to save her, and if it wasn't him, well god knows what would've happened to her.

And it only took a few moments for the Nightingale syndrome to kick in...

"Well Hugo is a good guy, he likes to joke around, he saved me in the rapid, and… well he also has a good face, and it felt like he had a strong pair of arms, and I felt his chest too, and also maybe he has a big…"

Her eyes opened wide and stopped her thoughts right there, and a gasp left her mouth.

"Oh geez, I think I have a crush on him" she panicked to herself.

An hour had passed, the sun was completely gone and the lights around the base had turned on, the repair students had the M3 lee inside the garage and Leopon team were working on getting its fuel tanks out.

But the two Lindsay brothers were still stood outside, as their help wasn't really needed for the moment.

Ronald, who had a pebble in his hand, aimed and threw it at an empty drinks can on the floor ahead, hitting it and sending it flying.

With the small amount of gratification dying away almost instantly, he went back over to the wall of the garage, where his younger brother was also sitting up against, Ronald then turned and leaned against the wall and gave a huff in boredom.

"Where are those bloody tanks?" the older Lindsay said to himself in frustration to the lack of the recovery crew's appearance.

"Well they still have to drive here bro" Douglas mentioned to him.

"Yeah, but come on, we finished that flippin' battle like, when? A few hours ago?" Ronald theorised.

Douglas checked a watch on his left wrist.

"Pretty much" he responded.

But then, lights soon started to approach the base, the two brothers looked closer to see it was a transporter, more specifically, and M25 tank transporter, being driven by JSF staff.

The huge vehicle entered the base and came slowly to a stop next to the tank shed, the two brothers walked over to it to see both the Chi-Nu and the Type 89 on the back, with the respective crews standing on and sitting in their respective vehicles.

The doors on the M25 then opened up, two JSF staff got out as well as one of the Japanese judges, who's long blonde hair showed her to be Remi Takashima, who seemed to not realise the two brothers were with Ooarai.

"Hey, what are you two boys doing here? This is a girls' team you know?" Remi told them with authority.

The two Lindsay's gave equal looks of confusion.

"Sorry lass but we're with this team, you must be confused" Ronald tried to explain to her.

"You can't be with them, your boys and Ooarai the last time I checked they are a full female team, I'm sorry but I have to ask you…" Remi continued on.

"Hey! Stop!"

The two brothers and Remi turned to see Miho running towards them in a panic, the crews of the knocked out tanks had disembarked and were standing back, watching the whole thing unfold.

Miho stopped next to them and took some time to catch her breath.

"Miss Takashima, these two boys are part of a European team who are volunteering with us" she quickly explained.

"Which team?" Remi asked.

"Bovington Tankery Academy" Miho clarified, they watched as Remi's face went into a thought, and then suddenly her face lit up in realisation.

"Oh I do apologize I forgot that some teams have volunteers from other schools" Remi apologised for her ignorance.

"That's okay, even judges make mistakes sometimes, but thanks for getting our tanks back for us" Miho pardoned and thanked.

"Yes, but we will have to take some supplies out of your storage due to your tanks being disabled" Remi then reminded her, taking her serious judge pose again.

"Yeah sure, our storage is over…" Miho began and then turned to point, but she stopped to see the other two JSF staff had already opened the garage door on the storage barn and were taking out a couple of crates.

"Oh, you already know, never mind" Miho corrected herself and turned herself round again.

Remi then stood aside as Nekota and Noriko came over to them.

"Heh, sorry commander, we got a bit carried away with that last charge", the volleyball commander admitted,

"Don't worry about it, you did a good job with Rabbit and Falcon keeping those Anzio tanks back, what took you out in the end?" Miho asked.

"The P43 bis got us right in the front plate, it even knocked us over" Noriko told her.

The JSF staff were finished taking the tanks off the trailer and loading the crates.

"Okay we're done here now" Remi announced.

"Oh ok, thanks for everything" Miho added.

Remi smiled, "No problem, just make sure you don't get too frisky with your new male companions there" the judge snuck in a tease.

"Yeah shu-EEEHH!" Miho spilled as her face went beet red with a blush to that embarrassing remark.

Remi sniggered slightly, "Ok, goodbye tankers" she waved off and got back into the cab of the M25.

What Miho hadn't realised was that Remi was a judge who liked to tease and prank the students from time to time.

"Hey, do I look like a guy who would have a chance with a lass miss?" Ronald retorted.

But he got no reply from the vehicle as it backed out of the compound, the girls and two Scots just stood there and watched as the vehicle then turned around and drove away.

Nakajima came out of the garage to the group.

"Oh nice, the tank's are finally here, you want to help us get them into the garage?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yeah sure we can, let's go everyone" Noriko returned kindly and then called out behind her.

Soon, the activity in the base had spread out, with all the students going around and doing their thing, eating in the mess hall, working in the garage, planning in the strategy room, or relaxing in the common's room, and there was a collection of students there,

Sat at the kitchen island, with drinks and food in front of them was Morgan, Knugen, Jörgen, Taeko, Azusa and Momoga, all having a small chat while helping themselves to the edible collection in front of them all.

But the atmosphere wasn't all calm in the room, sat on the sofa with eyes locked on the TV was Alberico and Floriano, fidgeting around as they were watching a rather intense football match.

The door opened up and a slightly hot and dripping Hoshino walked in, with patches of dirt covering her overalls and tank top, with Knugen noting her presence.

"Hoshino, you look like you've been working hard" he remarked.

"Yeah we have, aren't you supposed to be helping us as well with the repairs?" she then questioned as she made her way to the nearby fridge, the Swede shrugged his shoulders.

"Well Nakajima said she didn't need any help" he mentioned.

"You should see the Lindsay brothers, they've been working hard and they're arguably in a worse state then I am" she returned, and then opened up the fridge to find what she was looking for.

"WHAT!?" Floriano's voice came over the room.

Hoshino jumped slightly and turned around.

"Is he okay?" Hoshino asked concerned.

"Don't worry, they're watching football apparently" Taeko calmed.

"Yeah, Italy versus Albania, they've been going like that for half an hour" Morgan sassed, seemingly annoyed by the regular noises coming from the two football fans.

"WHAT! Ohhh!" now Alberico exclaimed at the video projecting device.

The two got restless again and got closer to the screen as the events of a goal charge unfolded, but failed at the last second.

"WHAT! _Forza Italia!"_ Floriano scolded in defeat to another failure of his nations team.

"It like every few seconds with them, _Whaaat!"_ Momoga mimicked the two fans, also with a sense of disbelief and sass in her voice.

"How long does a football match last anyways?" Azusa asked.

"Ninety minutes, and if it goes into overtime, those two will be unbearable" Jörgen explained.

At some point, Morgan flipped out a rugged case which contained a smartphone, he flicked his thumb around on the screen and brought up what looked like a stream, a stream of the same football match the Italians were watching, with devious intent.

"Ooh Albania just scored!" He then said loud enough for everyone to hear, including the two Italians at the TV.

Floriano turned around with a slight panic.

"What? No no no that can't be!" he blubbered.

"Well according to this live feed I have they did score" Morgan added on.

"How far ahead is that?" Alberico asked.

"One minute ahead" the Welshman added on.

" _Mio Dio"_ Floriano then cursed under his breath.

"Start your stopwatches mates, It's a bloody glorious goal" Morgan then smiled.

The two Italians had their eyes glued to the screen, and they slowly edged forward as the tension increased to unbearable levels.

Then the chants of denial began as the sense of doom increased...

"No…."

"...No…"

"...No..."

"...NO…"

"...NO!..."

"..."

But then everything went dead silent from the two for a few seconds.

Then, Alberico turned around, with an annoyed look on his face.

"You're messing with us, aren't you?" he grumbled.

"...Yes" Morgan calmly replied with a rubbish-eating grin.

Everyone at the island burst out laughing, the howls and cackles of laughter from the boys and girls filled the entire room, many of them holding onto themselves as their lungs and faces hurt.

Jörgan let out some hard claps to the situation.

" _Åh gud det var perfekt"_ he got through the laughs in his mouth.

Morgan almost dropped his phone while laughing, and the girls had broken down into loud giggle fits, but Alberico and Floriano were not amused, their faces pouting in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah you can laugh all you want but we Italian's will beat you all in a football match any time" Floriano sassed back at them.

"Yeah we will, and Morgan..." Alberico then asked, Morgan looked at him with giddy eyes.

"You're a sheep-herding, drunk, Welsh _idiota"_ the Italian scolded him, but Morgan just laughed.

"Then maybe keep your voice down and it will save you the embarrassment" he retorted, the Italian's just shook their heads and turned back to the screen.

"Anyway, Knugen, can you please come and help us, we also don't know how that fancy new machine works" Hoshino pleaded with the Swede.

"Ahh, why not, I was getting bored anyways" he replied as he got up,

Jörgan also got up at the same time.

"I'll come as well, I wasn't really doing anything either," he explained, Hoshino smiled to them both.

"Great, the more the merrier I guess" she said.

To the relief of the Italians football fans in the room, their team won the match with a last minute goal in overtime.

Knugen, Hoshino and Jörgan walked into the garage, the Chi-Nu and Type 89 were both on hydraulic ramps, the Type 89 being in their air with Suzuki and Tsuchiya underneath.

While the Chi-Nu was on the ground, with Nakajima and the Lindsay brothers stood on the front deck facing the turret.

Further inspection showed that they had a crowbar jammed into a hole in the front-left turret face, the two Scotsmen were trying their hardest to leaver out the remains of a HEAT shell stuck in the hole.

The shell had been caught by the tournament-regulated super carbon coating which made up the centre portion of the armour, with itself sandwiched by the innermost, thin steel liner which made up the interior of the tank.

However, the two brothers were struggling to get the shell out, they continued to put their weight against the bar, but nothing budged.

"Ahh bollocks to it!" Ronald cursed after an attempt failed, dropping the crowbar with a clang on the floor.

"You need help?" Jörgan asked, the three on the Chi-Nu then turned to face him.

"Oh hi, didn't expect you guys to come here" Nakajima greeted with surprise.

"well we needed Knugen for the patch gun, but he wanted to come as well" Hoshino explained and then pointed at Jörgan.

"You two look like you need extra leverage" the large Swede then told the Scots.

"you think? We've been sweating at this a good amount" Douglas whined.

Jörgan went over and picked up the crowbar, he raised it like it was light as a toothpick to Ronald, who took it off him and jammed it back into the hole in the armour, Jörgan stood on the left track and in a position to pull the bar towards him, the two brothers meanwhile stayed in their position to push against the bar.

"Ok, one, two, three!" Ronald counted and then him and his brother pushed their weight against the bar, Jörgan pulled hard on his end, and finally, the remains of the HEAT shell came out with a clang.

Jörgan quickly jumped off the track before he lost balance and landed on his feet, the two Lindsay's pulled the bar out and let off a cheer.

"Finally that bloody thing is out" Ronald celebrated.

"Just a bit of Swedish muscle you needed _jå?"_ Jörgan smiled.

"Sure, cheers mate" Ronald thanked him.

Knugen then came over to the tank, pulling along a large gas cylinder on wheels with a pipe coming out, also trailing a thick power cable, the pipe and wire waved around until it came to what looked like a large firefighter nozzle, but with a gauge and an opening for something to be loaded attached to the top.

"What in the bloody hell is that thing?" Douglas spat out, not having a clue what the device did.

Knugen smiled, "this is a patching gun, able to fill holes in armour with molten steel and then compress and cool it rapidly" he cared to explain.

He clambered onto the front of the Chi-Nu and over to the turret face, where he pressed the nozzle against the hole, covering it up.

"Pass me one of those metal slugs" he then asked.

Nakajima looked on the gas cylinder and saw some cylindrical steel pieces in a bag hanging from the neck, with them being pretty thick and heavy, she grabbed one of them and passed it up to him, with Knugen then dropping it into the slot on top of the gun.

He pressed the nozzle against the hole on the front turret plate, with the gun covering the entire hole and sealing around it.

Knugen then pulled the trigger on the grip, and the sound of an electrical transformer like buzz filled the air, a small temperature gauge on the side of the gun rose quickly as heating elements inside the gun heated the steel slug up.

The needle kept going up to higher and higher temperatures, with the tip around the gun starting to glow an ominous red, soon the gauge hit 1400 degrees Centigrade (or around 2500 degrees Fahrenheit), and the steel slug inside the gun liquified.

Knugen then hit a second trigger which triggered a piston inside the gun, which pushed the molten metal inside the hole in the armour and compacted it.

"Hey, can you check the cylinder is open?" he asked down to the students watching.

Hoshino went over to the gas cylinder and twisted the valve at its neck, with that, the hiss of a liquid could be heard, and then something strange happened.

Hoshino witnessed water starting to condense on the flexible polylock metal tube, and then it slowly crystallized and turned to ice.

"Wait, what's in this tank?" she asked confused.

"Oh it's just liquid nitrogen" the Swede replied with seemingly no fuss in his voice.

"Really?" Nakajima said a bit surprised.

"Ok I'm taking a step back if you don't mind" Ronald announced unnerved while taking a step back, Douglas out of brotherly instinct did the same.

Knugen then hit a button the gun for the final step, the liquid nitrogen flowed into the gun and came into contact with the molten metal, the gas quickly vaporised and hissed out of the top of the gun in a small plume, the temperature on the gauge quickly dropped as the LN2 began to cool the metal down quickly.

Soon the temperature reached normal levels again, and Knugen pulled the gun away from the steel to see the results, the students saw that the hole was now filled in, and the filler was now flush with the rest of the armour, all it lacked was some grinding and a new coat of paint.

"There you are, just grind it down a bit, put some new paint on it, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference" he chortled in satisfaction to his work.

"that's one cool piece of kit!" Tsuchiya simpered in her usual happy tone.

"Yeah, I can't wait for the turn when I use it" Nakajima added on.

"I can teach you on the Type 89" Knugen suggested.

"Sure!" the Leopon commander accepted.

"Well you can do that, I'm taking a break" Ronald announced as he began to walk off.

"Ok Ronald, see ya" Nakajima waved him off as he reached the door.

"Just make sure my brother doesn't drop something on his foot" the elder Scot then mentioned.

"I ain't that thick bro" Douglas complained at him, with the others laughing.

Ronald shot a smirk and then walked out the door.

He walked outside and towards the main building, however, further in the back something caught his eye, there was a small flower bed in between the main building and the resource storage, many of the flowers had been strewn around and some were still in small plastic flowerpots.

Ronald seemed to have an inner responsibility take hold inside of him, he walked over and knelt at the stone boundary between concrete and brown earth, he looked over for any tools to start working.

But the one tool he saw rather unnerved him, he reached over and picked up a kunai knife, inspecting it closely with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Does this belong to one of those history lasses or what?" He thought.

"Oh" he heard a feminine exclamation behind him, he turned to see Hana standing right there.

"Erm, am I ruining something here?" Ronald asked in slight confusion.

"No, not at all, I'm just surprised to see someone like you here..." Hana comforted as she walked over to him.

"I just wasn't expecting somebody like you to have an interest in flowers" she continued as she sat down to his right.

"Wait, Hana, you're the one who has an interest in icky… iky… what the flippin' hell was it?" Ronald struggled to say her profession, his lowland Scottish accent wasn't helping either, Hana just giggled to his struggle.

"Ikebana, the practice of flower arrangement?" she clarified.

"Yes that, but do you really need to use tools that Ninjas use for something like that?" Ronald quizzed while holding the kunai up to her.

"Well the kunai was a tool used by Japanese farmers to dig out patches of dirt to plant seeds, its use by Ninjas came after that, I'm guessing that's how you in the west see it?" Hana explained and then asked.

"Pretty much" Ronald accepted.

He turned his attention back to the dirt, and gripping the kunai, he started to dig a hole in the earth, soon it was large enough to fit a flower in it, Hana just sat by and watched him reach over and pick up a flower in its plastic pot.

The flower itself consisted of a single yellow head on a thin stalk, and then two more stalks branching upwards with white petals at regular intervals.

The Scot took the plant out of the confines of the plastic pot, the molded dirt having enough strength to keep itself together with the help of Ronald's hand.

He placed the flower down into the dirt of the flowerbed, and proceeded to pack dirt around it to make it more flush with the ground, and to hold the flower in place.

But then, Hana intruded on his work, but he pulled his hands away and let her do what she was going to do, he watched as she started to pull at the stalks and bend them into different shapes with her delicate and elegant fingers.

She stopped until she had the left stalk pointed upwards, and the right stalk wrapped loosely around it, with the yellow flower and its stalk also twisting with it, ending with the flower pointed upwards and away from the twisting stalk, her practice in Ikebana had paid off again.

"I must ask, how did someone like you get into flowers?" Hana then asked the Scot.

"Yeah, I must say in the UK we call this sort of thing gardening, basically arranging our flowers in pots, flowerbeds, basically anything you can shove dirt and a plant in and trying to create a beautiful, natural environment, funnily enough I got all this off my father, me mother wasn't really interested in it" Ronald then told.

"What sort of person is your father?" Hana continued to probe.

"Well it's funny really, he came from a rough area of Glasgow, and he got caught in the middle of gang violence when he was the same age as me, mostly during the ice cream wars" Ronald said.

"Ice cream?" Hana interrupted in confusion.

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but yeah, ice cream vans were involved, anyways, the worst time happened when he got into a wee little scuffle, which resulted in him getting half a Glaswegian smile" the Scot continued,

"Wait, what's that?" Hana asked.

Ronald gave a small sigh, "basically one of the thugs took a knife and cut a smile up from his lip to his left ear, left a scar on his cheek" he then explained tracing a finger on his cheek.

Hana gasped to that shocking description.

"But luckily he was strong enough to fight those dobber's off, but after that, he moved out of Glasgow and into Aberdeenshire, where he met my mother, who was from the highlands of Scotland, and had me and me brother too, he mostly does gardening just to keep his mind clear, and I kind of just took it up as well as I was very close to him" Ronald finished off.

Hana hummed and after a short while, stood back up.

"Well I need to attend to something for Miho, I'll see you later" she had to part.

"Ok lass, see you around" Ronald returned, Hana smiled and walked off.

"Even though he looks rough, he does have a nice side to him indeed."

Meanwhile back in the garage, Nakajima had just made an elementary school error when it came to fixing the M3's fuel tank, but she wasn't ready to talk about it, walking away from her other Leopon peers in embarrassment.

"What did you do?" Suzuki, who was standing next to the Chi-Nu tried to question her, but Nakajima continued to walk away.

"You know you guys can't laugh at me if you don't know what I did" she told them with a mixture of smugness and embarrassment in her voice.

She turned a corner and stopped at a bench Knugen was working at, who was busy fixing the StuG's gun sight, he had noticed the commotion and looked up at her.

"What happened?" he asked her calmly as he put the gun sight down, Nakajima leaned on the bench.

"Nothing" she waved off, trying to keep a calm look on her face.

 _Denial, is a river in Africa…_

"Come oooon, what happened?" the Swede probed her more, but Nakajima kept up a fake chuckle.

Knugen looked around the corner to the M3 Lee, and the presence of a few caulk guns and the fuel tank on the floor immediately told him what she had done.

"Did you accidentally use expanding sealer so when you tried to fill the hole, it expanded and filled up half the tank?" Knugen hypothesised.

And it turned out to be right, over-zealous and incorrect use of an expanding sealer had not just filled up the hole in the fuel tank, but half the fuel tank itself, and of course, Nakajima wasn't happy, at herself, or anyone else.

"You're a _baka_ you know that Gustav?" she sulked loudly, with Knugen going into a fit of laughs and chuckles.

"Seriously, screw you" she continued to whine, Knugen didn't take offence to this, he knew Nakajima was annoyed at herself for making such an error.

"Ok, calm down, use some sealant remover, get the sealant out, and use a welder on that puncture, but do use water to get the fumes out, let me get the remover for you" he gave her a plan, and walked off to a few shelves.

Tsuchiya, who had heard the whole thing walked up to Nakajima.

"Well that was quite a mistake" she teased her, Nakajima just took a deep breath.

"You know, when Miho or Anzu or Erwin make mistakes it's usually nothing too bad or funny, but somehow when I screw up, it's always in the most humiliating way" she complained.

Tsuchiya just smiled and rubbed her commander on the back, "don't hit yourself over it, life would be boring without mistakes wouldn't it?" she calmed.

"Guess your right" Nakajima accepted.

While a sulking Nakajima had to clean up her mistake, back in the main building, Mako was walking along the corridors, trying to get to some wall mounted payphones which had been provided to allow students to communicate with family members, which was kind of a necessity especially being away for two weeks.

Mako soon was coming up on them, but she could clearly see down the remaining length of the corridor, that Morgan was on one of them, and she could her that he was talking in his Welsh tongue.

" _Peidiwch â phoeni ewythr, mae popeth wedi bod yn iawn, rydyn ni wedi gwneud yn dda am y diwrnod y byddaf yn dweud hynny wrthych"_ he talked, but then he noticed Mako standing there.

" _Iawn gwrando mae'n rhaid i mi fynd ... ie, byddaf yn ofalus ... iawn, hwyl fawr"_ he parted with and then set the phone back on the receiving arm, ending the call.

"You don't mind me asking who you were talking to?" Mako questioned.

"I was talking to my uncle, he works as a ship carpenter and joiner down at the Cardiff docks, back before I started at Bovington and back when I was living in Wales I would go down there and help him with the heavy machinery" the Welshman told his story as he leaned on the machine.

"Heavy machinery?" Mako quizzed more closely.

"Yeah, mostly an overhead crane, how did I become efficient with the controls of a tank?" Morgan mentioned.

"Well I suppose that's the reason why, but you do seem to have a good uncle, really my grandmother isn't too active nowadays" Mako intoned.

"Huh, do your parents do anything with you?" Morgan queried.

A grim look then flashed across Mako's face, just from the memories those words brought up.

"Erm, that's not really something I want to talk about" she mumbled out.

"Oh sorry did I…" Morgan tried to apologise.

"No it's nothing, just nothing" Mako cut him off.

But now she was acting rather restless.

"Listen, I actually just remembered Saori wanted me for something, I'll see you later" she then quickly spoke.

"Hey wait, what about your?" Morgan tried to say, but Mako had quickly turned around and walked off with a fast pace, just leaving Morgan there dumbfounded.

"Did I really say something bad? Is she hiding something?" his mind raced.

It was now an hour before lights out, and a great time was now upon them all,

Shower time.

The boys were all lined up outside the door to the shower rooms, with their night attire in their arms, but there was an issue to the fact that Sodoko was blocking them, and a sliding sign on the wall nearby was saying 'Girls'

"Oh come on Sodoko me n' me brother have been working hard, we need to clean ourselves up" Ronald complained to the Public Morals Committee leader.

"Yeah and I'm still damp here" Hugo complained.

"As I said before, you ain't going in there until all the girl's are finished with the showers" Sodoko reiterated a statement with her calm but strong voice.

But soon, the final female team, that being Duck team came out of the showers, now wearing a mixture of night attire.

"Sorry guys for the delay" Noriko apologised as she walked past the male line.

"Yeah sorry, My hair was giving me issues" Akebi sobbed as she walked.

"Mine too sorry" Taeko added on.

"Seriously, was I the only one who finished on time?" Shinobu complained at the back of their line.

The female commotion died down as they turned the corner and walked further down the corridor, Sodoko poked her head into the shower room to check that it was empty.

"Ok, you're free to go" Sodoko relieved as she moved the black bar on the sign, changing it to display 'Boys'

"Thanks" Tom said kindly as he headed the male line into the shower area.

The long and narrow room itself was tiled with mostly white tiles on the walls, with some lines of pink and blue adding some variety.

The tiles on the floor were dark cream in colour and had cuts and bumps in them for a texture, these were broken by striped metal drains, square ceiling lights provided lighting.

A long wooden bench went along the left side wall for seating, to the right side were all the shower cubicles, twelve in total, with white walls and supports breaking up the individual spaces.

There was a foot high gap at the base of each cubicle to allow water to flow out and into the drains, which ran alongside the cubicles on the floor.

"Ok then, grab one each and do your thing, just don't take too long" Tom told them all.

The Boys kept to their order's when it came to picking the cubical, Tom closest to the door, down to Floriano at the end.

Tom closed the door to the cubical he was in, he immediately saw to his left on the wall was a waterproof locker, with a small top cavity and a larger cavity below that, with doors sealing both.

It was easily seen that it was there to provide a dry place for the occupant to put their clothes in, so they didn't have to change outside the cubicle and expose themselves.

And to the front was the raised shower head, with a dial on the front wall to control the water temperature and a button to shut it on and off, to the side was a small shelf with bottles of shampoo and body wash, along with a small flannel and a bath scrunchie.

It was also seen that there were two of each of these items on the shelf, one pink and the other blue, it was obvious to the boys which one was to be used.

Tom in curiosity took the pink body wash, open the lid and took a sniff, the pungent smell of roses immediately went up into his nostrils, it was crystal clear he didn't want to be using that, not if he wanted to walk around smelling like a girl.

He did the same with the blue coloured body wash, it seemed to have a 'timber' like smell to it, probably what you would expect from a product usually advertised by ripped bodybuilders on TV all the time.

Now familiar with everything, Tom opened up the locker and put his night attire in, and then proceeded to strip himself of his clothing, starting with his beret and tankery boots, black socks, then khaki tankery overalls, both top and bottoms, his white undershirt, the analogue watch on his left wrist, and finally his white boxers.

Now down to his birthday suit, he stuffed all his clothes in the locker and made sure it was shut tight, he then turned and walked towards the shower head, he reached forward and hit the button on the wall.

The water flowed down from the showerhead and began to coat his body, it took some time to heat up, but it was soon at a warm and pleasant temperature for him.

As Tom was beginning to wash himself, the other boys had also one by one began to turn their showers on, and the whole room was now filled with the sound of running water.

" _ÅH HELVETE DET ÄR KALLT!"_ Knugen suddenly yelled as his shower was left on an ice cold setting, with the other two Swede's laughing.

"A sudden reminder of home eh Knugen?" Jörgan teased him, Tom himself managed a smile.

The room began to fill with steam raising the humidity to trophic levels, and the water from each shower was running out from under the cubicles and into the long drain.

Tom, after fully soaking himself then reached for the shampoo bottle, making sure it was the blue one as he opened it and squirted some of the viscous liquid into his palm.

At that point, some of the boys went into their own quiet conversations, but the one who stood out was Nelson, who had instead decided to sing a great war song out loud to himself:

" _Up to mighty London came an Irish man one day,"_

" _All the streets were paved with gold, so everyone was gay!"_

" _Singing songs of Piccadilly, Strand, and Leicester Square,"_

" _'Til Paddy got excited and he shouted to them there:"_

" _It's a long way to Tipperary, it's a long way to go."_

" _It's a long way to Tipperary, to the sweetest girl I know!"_

" _Goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester Square!"_

" _It's a long long way to Tipperary but my heart's right there!"_

"Haha, what kind of song is that? A song for a few guys to have fun with each other in a trench?" Hugo joked loudly from his cubicle, picking on one of the words in the lyrics.

Nelson as always kept his gentleman composure.

"I should let you know that the word gay did have a different meaning back in the 1900's, it was another term for happiness" he explained.

"Well anyways, speaking of happiness, have any of you guys been making friends with any of the girls?" Tom questioned.

"Well, I did try to have a conversation with Mako earlier, but it was weird" Morgan then told

"Hmm? Care to explain more?" Nelson probed in curiosity

"I mean, I managed to start talking with her, and I don't know what it was, but she suddenly ran away from me with excuses, I think so at least" Morgan then told about his earlier encounter with Mako.

"Maybe it's because she wants to talk to a real strong man and not one that plays with his steering sticks all day" Ronald then quipped, prompting a quick laugh from his younger brother.

"Oh eat me you moron" Morgan snapped back with the Scotsman laughing.

"Is this all you Englishman do all day in the showers?" Erik called over from his cubicle.

"No Erik it's all good, it's just that our older Lindsay here thinks he knows the most out of all of us which is why he's been in two failed relationships and still hasn't admitted he has a thing for old men in kilts" Tom answered while roasting Ronald.

Nelson went into a gentlemanly laugh while Morgan broke down into a loud howling cackle.

"Hah, well for your information, I did have a rather in depth conversation with Hana earlier on" Ronald boasted his defence.

"Oh really? What was it in? You bragging how large your two fruits were?" Morgan sniggered, Tom and Erik laughed.

"Nah, we talked more about gardening, and I could tell she probably wants me" Ronald told and grinned.

"Jesus didn't I say not to get too frisky with the girls?" Tom complained.

"Well you're forgetting we have Salvatore here" Erik then mentioned.

"Of course, I've been getting with the vice-commander, and I can tell you Erwin will soon be desperate for me" Alfonso bragged.

" _For Pete's sake"_ Tom face-palmed to himself.

"And you sure it will go well this time, and not like all the other disasters you mentioned?" Knugen questioned.

"Oh yeah I've also been keeping track of your past mishaps" Floriano mentioned with a smile.

"Oh do tell us, I think we are all rather curious" Nelson egged on.

"I don't think you need…" Alfonso tried to say, but Floriano started anyways.

"The first you lost your virginity to, but then she dumped you for another guy, who also beat you up."

"The second you forced yourself on and then you had to run away from her angry father."

"The third was super creepy and you finally got away when the handcuffs and chokers came out."

"The forth did you with a quickie, even though she already had a boyfriend and you then had to run away before he murdered you."

"The fifth was the busty vice-commander who kicked you in between the legs."

"And the sixth… well you didn't tell us about her, but I think we're right eh Salvatore?"

Floriano finished listing his commander's past relationships, but Alfonso just took the embarrassment in his stride.

"All of those, well they were just warmups, I'll bet you that Erwin as the seventh girl will be different, seven is a lucky number, isn't it?" Alfonso shook off and then hinted at.

"Didn't I tell you to take it easy and not act like a creep Alfonso?" Tom snubbed him in return.

"Hey! Why am I always the target of the no-flirting brigade? Why don't you look at Badoglio for once" Alfonso defected in annoyance.

"Why are you dragging me into this Salvatore!?" Alberico whined.

"It's pretty obvious, you've been all over that roman role-player haven't you, I've even seen you two together" Hugo jumped in.

" _Mio dio_ firstly, me and Caesar are actual friends, we are both interested in the same stuff and we talk about, plus she can speak Italian too so that helps, and secondly…"

"Isn't that the signs of a relationship anyways?" Hugo jumped in with a theory

" _Stai zitto e fammi finire!"_ Alberico shouted him down, shocking the Italian gunner into silence.

"...And secondly, I'm not really looking into a relationship anyways unlike you _bocca sbavante Salvatore"_ the Italian loader finished his statement.

"Drooling? I ain't that creepy and sloppy Badoglio" Alfonso rebutted.

"I beg to differ" Alberico retorted.

"Alright calm down, don't go fighting over the women you're not trying to date" Erik stepped in, not really paying attention to the weirdness of the statement he just made.

"Ok, what about you Erik, you've been mingling with anyone?" Alfonso jested the Swede.

"If you replace the word 'mingle' with the work 'socialising' Alfonso, then yes, I have been with that girl Noriko you all saw earlier" Erik replied calmly.

"What did you talk to her about?" Douglas pushed.

"Nothing much, she kept going on about her volleyball club and how she wants to bring it back for herself and her friends, she may be small but she's full of energy I tell you" the Swedish commander continued on.

"Hmm, well I've been working alongside Nakajima for the night, and I like her, really, she's a nice and vibrant girl" Knugen then came into the conversation.

"She's asked for your 'torque wrench' yet?" Ronald slipped in a joke.

"Yeah she asked for a torque wrench at one point and... Wait a second" Knugen began, but then realised the trap he walked into.

Ronald just burst out laughing, "walked right into that one didn't ya mate?" he gibed.

"Whatever" Knugen sassed rolling his eyes.

"But hey, were still missing one man in this room" Ronald then told.

"Who's that?" Tom questioned, but Ronald just let out a suggestive cough in response.

The Scot was talking about him.

"Whoa, just gonna say right now me and Miho ain't interested in each other romantically okay, we're just partners in tankery" he quickly set straight

"Famous last words" Douglas joked with Ronald chuckleing along.

"For God's sake guys, I did warn all of you I didn't want any funny business between us and the girls, you also have to remember that Japanese tankery is solely feminine, so it's a massive shock for them to have a whole bunch of boys walking around their ranks" Tom continued to warn.

"Doesn't look like that to me, they seem to be rather welcoming, hell I had to save one of them at some point and she's really thankful for my presence" Hugo told.

"Ok, ok, let me clarify my stance, I'm okay with all of you talking with the girls, make them laugh, have deep conversations, do whatever, but if you go further than that, you're on your own, and I WILL reserve the option to throw you under the bus, because the last thing I, or really, all of us need is the JSF or ETA or both coming down on us like a ton of bricks with them getting wind of some, boy-girl mingling scandal, is that all clear now?" Tom restated with authority.

" _Jå"_ Erik responded.

" _Cristallo"_ Alfonso acknowledged.

The boys finally had finished up with their shower routines, Tom himself had dried himself and had put on his night attire, being a simple black short-sleeved pyjama top and some pyjama shorts of the same colour.

With his tankery clothes over his shoulder, he opened the door of his cubicle and walked out.

Some of the other boys were out before him and were now sat on the wooden bench, while others were still coming out of the cubicles.

Nelson came out wearing a fancy red dressing gown on his body, which even had his initials 'NR' stitched on the left breast in gold thread.

Douglas and Morgan wore similar attire to Tom, but Ronald instead wore black tracksuit bottoms with a white T-shirt, which did little to hide his defined arm muscles.

Erik and Knugen both wore green shirts with green tracksuit bottoms, but Jörgan was the most risqué, wearing the green tracksuit bottoms but having his upper body completely bare.

This showed off his defined arm muscles, pectorals and even his abs were showing through his skin, but he also had a few imperfections in the form of scratches on his body.

Alfonso was wearing black pyjama bottoms with a black tank top showing off his arms, Hugo also wore the same, also showing off his defined arm muscles, Alberico and Floriano instead wore a black jersey on their torso.

Once they had all collected themselves and got their clothes in order, they walked out of the showers, turned right and continued down the corridor for a bit, and then turned right again, and into another long room.

This one was more of a general washroom, the room was basked in the white ceiling lights (which also had a cool blue night light setting after lights out) which illuminated the white tiled walls, with dark cream textured tiles on the floor too.

The front portion of the room had rows of sink's on both sides eight on each side to be more exact, with a rectangular mirror above each one for the user to inspect themselves.

Going past the sinks and two counterfort's on each side, there were light gray cubicles on each side, the ones on the left were smaller toilet cubicles, with six in total, while on the right were larger changing cubicles, three were available for choice.

The boys saw that some girls were also at the sinks, Azusa, Shinobu and Saori were on the left, while Saemonza was on her own to the right, all of them in their own night attires and cleaning their teeth and doing their hair.

Morgan, Knugen, Alberico and Floriano went to the back and into the toilets to relieve themselves, while the other boy's picked a sink and got their toothbrushes.

Nelson found himself standing next to Saori, who had her glasses on and was fixing her hair.

"I've always wondered how a woman like yourself prepares themselves for bedtime" he began with, trying to start a conversation.

Saori flinched slightly, "Ooh, is he conversing with me?" a surprised though went through her mind.

"Yeah, I have to pamper myself properly to make sure I wake up fresh tomorrow," she replied.

Nelson hummed a response, then Saori decided to continue on.

"It must be a high life for you isn't it?" she quizzed.

"In what way Miss Takebe?" Nelson asked for clarification.

"Well, being a son to rich parents, that probably means you get whatever you want whenever you want, isn't that what it's like?" Saori clarified her statement.

"Yes, I am the son of an aristocratic family, but I will admit despite all the riches owned by my parents, I felt more down to earth than them" the Falcon gunner told.

"Really?" Saori doubted, Nelson nodded.

"Positive, I mean Bovington is a school open to the commoner, I had gone to a private artillery school when I was younger, that's how I became highly skilled in gunnery, but when it came to moving up to tankery, I was offered a place in all these private schools, but I instead chose Bovington" he continued and described his past.

"Why though?" Saori coaxed, Nelson stood and thought for a second.

"Well it was mostly because; being brutally honest, that I was finding it rather flattering being surrounded by other first class students, I wanted to see and make friendships with ladies and gentlemen of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat" he began.

"My parents were rather surprised at first, but they followed through with my wishes, and on my first day, I met Ronald and Morgan, and then Tom a few days after that, and I can tell you right now, they have been the closest friends I've ever had, much closer than any other aristocratic teen may have been" he added.

"Hmm, as they say, money can't buy happiness, am I right?" Saori then thought up a quote.

"Precisely" Nelson smiled in response.

"Eeep! I can't believe I'm having such a conversation with a boy!" Saori's mind raced to herself.

As the bubbly Japanese girl and the British aristocrat continued to talk, Jörgan stood at his sink and mirror, with Erik to his right, both of them brushing their teeth further down the room.

One thing the Swede hadn't noticed, was that Saemonza was behind him off his right shoulder, with her back to him on the opposite row, she was also cleaning her teeth, but just couldn't keep her eyes off Jörgan's topless body through the reflection of hers and his mirror.

His arm and chest muscles were hard to not notice, and her eyes had been scanning over the reflection of his body, a teenage body a girl would love to have for herself.

But one thing in particular caught her eye, and it was what looked like an old, rather large scar just below his left pectoral, it looked like it had been cauterized by heat due to the way the skin had healed around the wound.

"Are you seriously not going to put something on to cover yourself?" Erik prodded him.

"What? This is what I'm going to sleep in anyways, there isn't a problem with that isn't there?" Jörgan returned with a dismissive tone.

Erik gave a glance over his shoulder and then leaned in towards his gunner.

" _Jag tror att en av tjejerna stirrar på dig"_ he intoned quietly in their language.

Jörgan glanced up at the mirror, and scanned the background reflection, Saemonza saw this and quickly broke eye contact through the glass to avoid embarrassment.

Jörgan cocked an eye and looked behind him at Saemonza, who stood there and kept cleaning her teeth, the Swede just let a dismissive puff and turned back to face his mirror, Saemonza breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"At least he didn't notice" She calmed herself.

Floriano came back from the toilets and came to a free sink, he then proceeded to grab his toothbrush out of his pocket, but as he reached forward for the tube of toothpaste, a hand suddenly whisked away his toothbrush out of his grip.

Floriano spun around, and of course it was Hugo, living up to his joker name, holding his brush above his own head.

" _Idiota!_ Give back my toothbrush!" Floriano swatted, trying to reach the brush which Hugo kept up high, but Floriano's smaller stature meant it was just out of reach, Hugo as usual had the upper hand.

"You should've been paying attention" Hugo berated him as they continued to tussle.

"Come on, I just want to get to bed!" Floriano complained.

Hugo smirked as he would sometimes bring the brush closer, but would then yank it away as Floriano tried to stretch for it, just irritating him even more.

But then, a figure came in from behind and snatched the brush out of Hugo's hand.

"Guh!" Hugo exclaimed as he turned around to see who it was, and it turned out to be Shinobu.

Being the tallest Ooarai student gave her quite an advantage over the joker to aid Floriano in his distress.

Floriano got around Hugo and went towards Shinobu, who lowered her arm and gave him his toothbrush back.

" _Grazie mille_ Shinobu, you're a saviour" he thanked the volleyball player, and the two then looked at and smiled to each other.

An internal connection was made in those smiles.

Shinoubu then looked back at a rather annoyed Hugo who had let out a huff to the scene.

"That's what happens when you act like an idiot" she gibed at him.

" _Puttana"_ Hugo simply cussed out a response.

"What did he say to me?" she questioned Floriano, who gave a smile.

"He just called you the name of a female dog" he translated, a sudden look of unsettlement then came across Hugo's face, probably anticipating a harsh response.

"Oh did he?" she reacted in a reckoning tone, as her face turned to look back at Hugo, with a piercing look in her eyes.

She walked towards the joker, and with a look of anger forming on her face she brought her right palm up and then sharply whisked it to the side.

Her palm came across his left cheek with a sharp crack, the force enough to throw him off balance for a moment, and took his bustina off his head, the sound caught the attention of most in the room, with them all glancing at the scene.

A sharp yelp came out of his lips, which dissolved into deep whimpers as he rubbed his reddening cheek in an attempt to soothe the stinging, the hit had been hard enough to even make his ears ring.

Shinobu smiled to putting Hugo back in his place.

"Maybe you should watch your mouth next time, and also, try not to pick on everyone below you" she berated, Hugo didn't even reply, his mind was still spinning from the impact he had received.

She gave one more smile to Floriano, who in turn returned with his own, and then she walked back over to her sink.

Hugo, who had managed to get his senses back, turned towards Alberico who was at the sink next to him, and it looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something.

"You say one word, and I'll give you something much worse than a slap" Hugo threatened as he pointed his free finger at him.

"I wasn't going to" Alberico smugly mentioned, Hugo just huffed as he returned to his sink, plus one red and painful cheek.

Ten minutes to lights out, all of the boys were now pretty much done with their preparations were now mostly in the boy's barracks again.

Tom meanwhile had just finished everything he had to do, and was walking down the corridor back to the barracks, he walked across a T-junction, which had a passage going off to his left, which led to the entrance doors of the building.

And on the far left corner of this junction was the wired glass windows of an office, which happened to be used by the public morals committee, and was acting as a sleeping area for its three members.

As he walked past, he could catch a glimpse of Moyoko and Nozomi preparing three sleeping Futons on the floor, Sodoko was absent, probably elsewhere making sure everyone was getting ready, as she was the one keeping track of the schedule.

Tom after some more walking finally reached the male barracks, opened the door and walked in.

The main lights in the room were turned off, only a warm yellow light provided by table lamps on nightstands to the right of each bed, a trunk for clothes and other items was at the front of the bed on the floor.

There were twelve single beds in total, six on each side of the central aisle, with each having a metal frame and being cladded in white sheets, a single white pillow and a white duvet.

The other boys were also in the barracks, some were still getting ready, others had gotten into their beds, while some had even fallen asleep.

Tom's bed was closest to the door and to the right, Nelson was in his bed to right reading a book, who then turned his attention to his commander.

"Hello Tom, I'm going to guess you are about to go to bed?" he questioned, Tom nodded in response.

"Yeah, I'm tired" he breathed as he pulled his sheets off to the side and laid down on the mattress.

"Well I can't fault you, It has been a rather busy day" Nelson replied.

Morgan was in his bed on the other side of the isle to Tom, to his left was Ronald and then Douglas, the two Lindsay brothers had fallen asleep, Morgan was in the process.

The Swedes took up the last three beds on that side, while the Italians took up the other four on Tom's side.

Nelson's eyes went back to his obscure poetic book, but his eyes were taken off again when Tom gave out a sigh.

"Is there something on your mind?" he probed.

"Hmm? Oh it's nothing, just been thinking about the past few days, you know being volunteers and all" Tom responded and voiced his thoughts.

"Is it about Miss Nishizumi?" Nelson continued out.

"Well not really, it's really just being with the girls in general, I just hope the other guys are behaving themselves" Tom explained his thinking.

"The girls don't seem to be too bothered, I was talking to Miss Takabe earlier and she seemed over the moon to have male students in their company," Nelson told.

"Hmm, maybe I'm just paranoid, Maybe I'm just worrying too much that something bad will happen" Tom admitted.

"I would say, despite having Alfonso with us, I don't any of us would be silly enough to jeopardize our relationship with Miho and her collective, and even so, we all seem to have made good friends" Nelson continued on.

"Yeah, I think your right" Tom accepted, Nelson hummed a response.

"Ok, I'm going to sleep now if you don't mind" Tom closed his conversation.

"Ok commander, goodnight" Nelson simerly parted.

Tom pulled the sheets over his body and rolled himself to the right, he reached over and turned off the lamp on his nightstand.

He rolled himself over to the left, facing the wall, and after some time to get rested, he closed his eyes

Tom slowly nodded off, his mind began to slow, and his sub-consciousness began to process everything that had happened that day, the driving, the action, and the socializing thoughts processed through his dreaming mind.

...

but then, the past came back to him, his thoughts were corrupted, mixed with old displeasures.

…

Then, echoed voices of others and himself came across him.

...

"If you don't take the lead Bolton, the museum will have to close, and all its history will be lost"

…

"It's now or never, if we lose this match, we lose everything we fought for, the tank's, the museum, and maybe even this school itself will be gone forever"

…

"Get the flippin' hell off me Erik! He's in that tank!"

…

"No! I want to see the bloody body!"

…

"I can't believe he's gone, that goddamn Anatolian … mark my words he will pay"

…

"Tom look out!"

...!

Tom suddenly jumped awake, his breathing was fast and he had developed a cold sweat, his eyes darted around the room, immediately surveying his surroundings in a panic.

The morning sun was only starting to come over the horizon, with weak, shallow beams of yellow light coming through the windows.

Realizing he was safe, Tom finally calmed himself down, and just proceeded to look at everyone else in the room.

Nelson next to him, sleeping on his back with his legs together and his arms folded on his chest, his sheets still being neat, like he had barely moved throughout the entire night.

Morgan and Douglas had moved around however, rolling from left to right throughout the night, but the messiest had to be Ronald, who's sheets had been kicked to the base of the bed, and his body was sprawled out on the mattress and he was even slightly snoring with each breath.

Other boy's of note where Jörgan, who was sleeping in a loose fetal position, probably a result of his survival training, and Alfonso was sleeping in a way like he was holding onto someone else in his bed, what was going through his dreaming mind was up to interpretation.

Tom let his body fall backwards and his head landed on the pillow, he groaned as he tried to get through the rest of the early morning.

The sun was now up in the sky, the base was awake with activity as everyone walked around doing their morning choirs.

In the planning room, Miho, the Student Council, Erwin, Erik and Alfonso were present and scanning over the map table, Erwin had a few drawn up plans laid out on the table she had conjured up last night.

The door swung open, with Tom walking through with a metal mug of tea in hand, having just come out of the mess hall after eating a quick breakfast.

His face looked a bit groggy, especially after waking up a bit too early.

"Good morning Tom, how are you?" Miho greeted him.

"I'm all peachy, well, just a bit slow in the morning" Tom reassured.

He then looked over to Erik, who was sitting there calmly, and then over to Alfonso, who had his legs crossed and his feet up on the edge of the table, leaning back in his seat.

"Ok, well what are we doing today?" Tom got back on track, sitting in a free seat as Erwin got her papers in hand and picked up a wooden pointer stick.

"I had a short discussion with Miho, and in keeping with her strategy, we're going to attack and take the resources of this depot here" she proposed, pointing to a depot marked on the map.

Tom looked closer at the table, the depot looked rather secluded and away from any landmarks, the environment consisted only of grass fields on rolling hills, with patches of trees breaking it up.

"Hmm, well in that case, you think we'll only have Jinzōno tanks to deal with?" Tom questioned.

"Most likely, but since it's such a secluded depot I guess it wouldn't be too guarded, one tank, maybe two, but we should be able to deal with them pretty easily" Erwin added on her own thoughts.

"Ok then, well I don't have an issue with the plan" Tom accepted.

"Neither do I" Erik added.

"I see another beautiful plan from a likewise girl, I don't have an issue either" Alfonso snuck in another flirt as he accepted too, Erwin predictably heard this and a light blush came over her again.

" _For God's sake Alfonso did you listen to me yesterday?"_ Tom hissed to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Miho smiled and turned to Anzu, who gave her reassurance with a wink.

"I'm also don't have a problem" she gave her approval.

"Ok then, It's settled, Erwin you don't mind asking Sodoko to get everyone in for briefing?" Miho finished off with.

"Sure thing commander" Erwin recovered from her blush and complied with her superior.

Briefing went as usual, Erwin and Miho explaining the plan and the choirs of the day to the rest of the team, and then with some miscellaneous checks, the Ooarai tanks were mounted, started up and then drove out of the base.

Mallard as designated led the formation, with Falcon just behind on the dirt trail they were following.

Tom spent the beginning moments of the journey surveying the scenery and checking through his binoculars, but he soon left that job to Nelson as he sank back into the turret and remained in his seat.

As the tank drove on however, Tom's eyes started to feel heavy again from the boredom and early awakening he had that morning, his body still felt a bit sluggish and his mind was still drifting.

And soon, he had leaned in his seat and had dozed off with his head against the turret wall.

The sound of the environment died away as he went into a snooze.

...

"Tom?"

…

"Tom?"

"Has he fallen asleep?"

"Suppose he has"

"Well Erik said he looked a bit groggy this morning"

...

"Tom?"

"Just shove that Midlander div awake"

"Don't be so harsh on him Ronald, you wouldn't do that even to a sleeping pup"

…

"Tom?"

...

"OI PRICK!"

!

Tom suddenly jumped awake from the loud Scottish voice behind him, he spun around to see the two Lindsay brothers laughing, Nelson at his position just shook his head.

"What the hell's your problem eh?" Tom scolded them.

"We tried nicely but it wasn't working, and anyway's, were nearing the depot and Miho's on the radio" Ronald countered.

Tom turned his attention back to the radio next to him and picked up the receiver.

"Anglerfish this is Falcon, could you repeat your order please?" he asked for repetition.

"We need to know what's directly ahead, any sight on the depot?" Miho returned.

"Actually, we can see smoke up ahead over the hill" Sodoko then interrupted.

And she wasn't kidding, when Tom set his sights ahead, he noticed two columns of black smoke rising up slowly into the air.

"Nelson, get ready on the gun, we may have a fight on our hands," he warned his gunner, Nelson sprung out of his relaxed state and got on the gun sight, the two brothers also got into a ready position.

The leading B1 bis came over the hill, Sodoko now had a visual on the depot itself, but the sight was something she was expecting.

"Commander, I think someone's been here already" she told Miho over the waves.

The Ooarai task force came up to the depot, the smoldering wreck of two Jinzōno tank's were all too present, A Renault R35 and an MS-1 light tank, both having been hit by high calibre weapons and with white flags on display out of their turrets.

The force pulled up and stopped on the concrete surrounding the fence of the depot, and it was clear they had come too late, the depot was empty of any resources, the trailers and crates were all gone, only a single, spare, empty trailer remained.

"Commander there's nothing bloody here, somebody's been here and nicked everything before us" Tom dropped the hammer on everyone else.

"Don't tell me this whole trip was for nothing" Momo complained as she looked out of the hatch of the Hetzer.

Miho at her cupola was in a sense of despair herself, "but this depot was very secluded, I didn't expect anyone else would be here before us," she said.

Erwin gave a huff from her hatch, with Caesar next to her standing out of the loader's hatch.

"I guess somebody had the same idea as me" the Vice-commander muttered.

Many of the other commanders were in a similar area of thinking, including the European ones, except for one.

Meanwhile, Noriko had jumped out of her tank and was walking along the concrete, she was trying to find any sort of clues of who could've been here before them, and find a way to figure out where they had gone, as she wasn't ready to give up that easily.

She looked at the grass and noticed something, there where tread marks in the grass and mud which surrounded the general area, some of it belonged to the two formerly active Jinzōno tank's, but some others looked out of place.

She looked closer and could pick out the treads of four separate tanks driving into the depot, the marks went onto the concrete where they faded at the entrance to the chain link perimeter face, but with some more detective work, Noriko picked the treads out again, circling the concrete perimeter again before they became straight and went away from the depot.

And the smoking gun where tire marks which went with the tread marks, Noriko quickly looked at the spare trailer still in the depot, and saw it had tires, putting two and two together, she knew those had to be tanks towing trailers making those marks in the ground.

Bingo.

"Hey guys! I know where they went!" she happily called out to the rest of her team, catching their attention.

"Are you sure?" Miho lit up to the sudden exclamation from her fellow student.

"Yeah I'm sure! Come on and follow me!" the volleyball captain continues to chirp as she clambered back onto the Type 89B.

Miho looked at Tom who looked back with a shrug.

"Well I guess it doesn't hurt to give it a go" he approved.

Noriko got back into her position in the Type 89B, with the rest of her crew looking at her.

"Hey Shinobu, you see those track marks with tire marks in the dirt ahead?" she asked her driver in earnest.

Shinobu looked through the driver's viewport and scanned the ground, and soon she had also picked out the marks in the grass.

"I see them, you want me to follow them?" she coaxed.

"Yes! Yes! Come on! Those tanks could be on their way back to base for all we know" Noriko quickly urged.

Shinobu didn't have to be told twice, she quickly stepped on the throttle and the tank lurched, the driver keeping the tracks in the ground in her sight as she began to follow them.

"All tanks, follow Duck team, they seem to have an idea where the tanks went" Miho instructed through her radio.

The Type 89B had gotten itself locked on the trail, the track marks still being fresh in the soil below them.

All the tanks were now on a flat plain, the grass was moving in large shining waves across the landscape, with it only being broken up by patches of trees.

The Type 89B had gotten some distance from the main pack of Ooarai tanks, as Duck team carried out their seeking mission in haste.

"Hey Duck, don't go too far off now, just in case you run into anyone" Miho then warned across the waves.

"Don't worry commander, we'll stay in your gun range" Noriko reassured her.

"Why the hell are we even doing this, they could be back at base for all we know!" Momo continued to sass in the Hetzer.

"Come on Momo-Chan, the commander believes we can catch those tanks" Yuzu objected happily.

"Yeah, I have to applaud Miss Isobe's commitment to this" Anzu added on.

Momo just huffed, "sure, volleyball student's, they really are stubborn that's for sure" she complained to herself.

The leading Type 89B was now coming to a crest which the plain dropped off over, Noriko kept her eyes peeled through the periscope in her cupola as she looked over the ridge, a feeling going through her as she thought this might be it.

Shinobu also slowed the tank down as she had the same tingling in her senses, Taeko and Akebi did too, something really felt on edge.

Noriko finally got a view over the crest, she could see the green rolling hills and ridgelines going off into the distance in each direction from her high position, broken up by rocks and large patches of trees.

But she gasped to what she saw near the base of the hill they were atop of.

Tanks, a whole school's worth, parked around a gathering of students, some of them even towing trailers.

Trailers of resource, they had found the culprits from the depot, and Noriko could see what school it was from the unfamiliar European vehicles and their brown colour-scheme.

"Commander! We finally found them!"

Miho jumped slightly to the sudden voice coming over the radio, which she immediately turned her attention to by pressing on her throat microphone.

"You have? Who is it?" she asked for information

"It's Žatec-Pilsen!" Noriko resounded.

The Czech's…

...Zlata.

* * *

Translations

Forza Italia! = Come on Italy! (Italian)

Mio dio = My God (Italian)

Åh gud det var perfekt = Oh god that was perfect (Swedish)

Peidiwch â phoeni ewythr, mae popeth wedi bod yn iawn, rydyn ni wedi gwneud yn dda am y diwrnod y byddaf yn dweud hynny wrthych =

Don't worry uncle, everything's been fine, we've done well for the day I'll tell you that (Welsh)

Iawn gwrando mae'n rhaid i mi fynd ... ie, byddaf yn ofalus ... iawn, hwyl fawr =

okay listen I have to go ... yes I'll be careful ... okay, goodbye (Welsh)

Åh helvete det är kallt! = Oh hell it's cold! (Swedish)

Stai zitto e fammi finire! = Shut up and let me finish! (Italian)

Bocca sbavante Salvatore = Drooling mouth Salvatore (Italian)

Cristallo = Crystal (Italian)

Jag tror att en av tjejerna stirrar på dig = I think one of the girls are staring at you (Swedish)

Grazie mille = Thank you very much (Italian)


End file.
